


Bright Eyes

by Exterminatorviolence



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Angst, Boarding School, Eventual Smut, Fluff, Maybe - Freeform, Multi, My First Work in This Fandom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-12
Updated: 2014-08-13
Packaged: 2018-01-24 12:53:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 28,696
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1605881
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Exterminatorviolence/pseuds/Exterminatorviolence
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's not as if Ray was actually that nervous about starting a new school, it was more of the fact that it was a boarding school and he came from a broken home and that the only reason he actually got in was because of a scholarship, not because he has millions of dollars...but no one had to know that here. </p>
<p>Vaguely based off of the Video Game High School web series on YouTube. Not the same plot, but the same concept of a boarding school like high school where video games are the class courses. </p>
<p>Title from the band Bright Eyes, but not an important fact if you know who they are or not. You'll see why it's called that in the first chapter or two.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Welcome to Achievement Hunter High School

**Author's Note:**

> My first fic in years. Since like 2007 or 2008. I'm not great at writing in not first person, nor have had much practice doing it. So, please be patient, I'm still trying to learn haha.

It's not as if Ray was actually that nervous about starting a new school, it was more of the fact that it was a boarding school and he came from a broken home and that the only reason he actually got in was because of a scholarship, not because he has millions of dollars...but no one had to know that here. Ray could make friends easily enough, and if he didn't, then he could just stay cooped up in his dorm room that he hopefully didn't have to share with anyone. Again, it's not like Ray is  _nervous,_ he's just...a little uneasy about things like this. About starting off new without his mom, and worrying about how his mom will do without him there. 

So here he was now; staring up at the building that was supposedly going to be his new home for the next two or so years. Achievement Hunter High School...what kind of name is that anyway? Ray scoffed and stared down at the crumpled paper that he was clutching on to for dear life. It told him he was supposed to see Principle Burns. 

He looked around, trying not to drop the box he was holding that was filled with the little belongings that he owned. He had no idea where he was supposed to go, and he wasn't ready to start asking some random person for help. He doesn't like confrontation, any kind of confrontation, even if he's just asking for help. 

"Hey! Are you gonna actually move or just stand there?" Ray turned around at the sound of the voice. There was a boy, probably around his age, that was wearing a beanie and glasses. He looked angry, but Ray couldn't be sure that, that wasn't just his normal face. "Well?" The voice prompted, and his arms moved to the side, waiting for an answer. 

"Uh, yeah. I mean, I'm gonna move. I don't know where though," Ray muttered, trying to sound like he wasn't trying to pick a fight with this kid.

"Well, that's obvious. Do you need some help?" Ray looked up at that question with confusion written on his face. Now the kid was trying to help him? He was sure he was about to get punched two seconds ago. The guy still sounded annoyed, but genuine about wanting to help. 

"Uh, yeah, sure. That would be great actually," Ray said, allowing a smile to grace his face. "Uh, I'm Ray," He stuck his hand out, almost dropping his box in his attempt to balance it on one arm. 

"Michael," The kid-Michael-said and shook Ray's hand, smiling a little. "Where are you trying to get to, anyway?" He asked, trying to look at the crumpled paper that Ray was holding. 

"Principle Burns' office?" Ray formed the answer into a question. 

"Yeah, it's this way. C'mon, idiot." Michael made a sharp turn and grabbed Ray's arm, proceeding to drag him in, what he was hoping, the right direction. "I'm assuming this is your first day here, otherwise you wouldn't be lost and just standing there like an asshole." Ray couldn't tell if Michael was joking or not, but he didn't really want to ask. 

\---

"Okay, this is his office. I'll wait out here for you." Michael smiled and gave Ray a little push towards the door when he realized that he wasn't moving. 

Ray swallowed a little thickly, but walked into the office after Michael pushed him. 

"Uh, hi? I'm Ray Narvaez Jr., I'm new here? I'm supposed to see you?" The chair was facing away from him, and Ray felt like he was in a Bond movie. When he got no response, he tried again. "Uh, hello?" 

The chair swiveled to face him and there was a man with curly hair and a beard wearing glasses sitting in the chair petting a cat. Yeah...just like a Bond movie, Ray thought.

"Ray Narvaez? The kid with the scholarship? My name's Burnie Burns and this is Joe The Cat," He lifted the cat as he introduced it, and Ray smiled at it a little awkwardly. "You're the kid that's gonna be in the FPS class, right?"

"Uh, yes. That's me. I think I just need my schedule and room number," Ray jostled the box he was holding. He really just wanted to get his room number so he could set this shit down.

"It's a little more complicated than that, kid. Put your shit down and have a seat. It should only take about ten minutes, but we need to get your ID card set up so you can actually get in to your classes and dorm room and so you can eat. Most of your expenses are covered because of your scholarship, you just pay for outside things like extra clothes," Burnie explained and then started typing on his computer.

Ray took a seat and looked around the office while he waited. It looked like a normal office, with windows all lined up on the wall that lead outside. 

"Okay, I'm done. We don't have your picture here, so we're using your old school photo it that's okay?" Burnie didn't wait for an answer. "Here's your ID Card," Burnie slid across a blue and white card on a lanyard to Ray. "and your dorm room is on floor 3, room 12. You'll meet your roommate there, okay? Okay, cool. I gotta do work now, so have someone show you the room. Welcome to Achievement Hunter, Ray." Burnie smiled at him, before turning back to his computer and beginning to type without another glance at Ray. 

"Uh, my schedule?" Ray asked, while standing and grabbing his box. 

"Oh, yeah, you'll get that emailed to you. You have a laptop in your room on your bed. It's yours for the year for school work and crap. Bye, Ray." Burnie didn't even look up. 

"Oh, okay. Uh, bye." Ray turned and left the office. 

"Hey, you're back! What room are you in?" Michael stood up from where he was sitting under a tree.

"Uh, floor 3, room 12. He didn't tell me who my roommate is, though," Ray hoped it was Michael, he was the only kid that he talked to here, and he didn't think other people would be as understanding of the new Puerto Rican kid. 

Michael laughed, a loud laugh that made Ray want to laugh with him. "Oh, don't worry, Ray. I know who your roommate is. C'mon, he'll be excited to meet you. He's been dying to get a new roommate since his last one," Michael started walking with Ray stepping in next to him. 

"Oh, is he cool?" Ray asked. They weaved through the people that were all walking around the campus. 

"Depends on how you define 'cool'. He's not great at video games if that's what you're wondering. His last roommate left cause he got moved to a different room. That's all," Michael smirked, and Ray knew that there was something off about this roommate guy. Michael saw his uneasy face. "Dude, don't worry. The guy's funny and he's my friend so he can't be  _too_ annoying." 

They got to a building, Ray assumed it was the dorm building. When they stepped inside, almost everyone in the room turned to look at them. "Hey, assholes! This is Ray, he's living here now. Fuck off!" At hearing Michael, everyone went back to what they were doing. Ray thought that Michael must yell a lot. "Come on, up the stairs. We're almost there." 

Before Ray thought he was ready, they were standing outside of his new room. Michael started to pound on the door. "Yo, fuckface! Open the fucking door! You got a new roommate!" Ray heard a couple of thuds and muttered curse words as the guy made his way to answer the door. "He's such a fucking idiot." Michael grumbled under his breath while shaking his head. 

Yes, right now, Ray would admit that he's nervous about meeting this new guy that was going to be his roommate, and he was nervous about starting his classes and messing up. Give him ten more minutes, and Ray might start having an anxiety attack. 


	2. So a Puerto Rican, A Brit, and a Redhead Walk Into a Bar...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We learn who Ray's roommate is and see how he gets settled in to his new life. It's not a surprise who his roommate will be, is it...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Weeee, chapter two. Thanks for comments and kudos', it means a lot :) Hope you enjoy this chapter!

Ray was holding his breath as he heard the door open to reveal his roommate. It was a tall goofy looking guy with dirty blonde hair. He was smiling in an almost stupid way, like he didn't have a care in the world to worry about. His eyes locked on to Michael's and he opened his arms and nearly jumped onto him. 

"Mi-cool! My boy!" The blonde boy yelled, his legs wrapping around Michael's. Michael nearly fell with the sudden weight that he wasn't expecting and half glared at him. 

"Gavin, you fuck. Get off of me! I'm not your new roommate! The kid behind me is!" The blonde fell off of the red head and onto his butt. He looked up at Ray in question, his hair flopping into his eyes. "You mean this guy?" Gavin sprung up and poked Ray in the chest, Ray's eyes going cross-eyed trying to follow Gavin's finger. 

"Yeah, he mean's me. I'm Ray. I'm your new roommate. Are you British?" Ray made his way into the room and put his box on the bed that wasn't unmade. 

He heard the two others follow his into the room and shut the door. "What gave his British-ness away? The fact that he says my name like a fucking idiot, or that he makes up words?" Michael laughed. 

"I don't make up words, you mong!" Gavin yelled throwing a pillow at Michael and missing by about three feet. 

"You don't make up fake words? What the hell is a mong?" Michael laughed and sat down on Gavin's bed. 

Gavin looked at Ray suddenly and said, "Hey, has anyone ever called you X-Ray before?" 

Ray looked at Gavin who was now sitting on his bed next to Michael on his orange duvet. "Uh, no, why? Most people called me a faggot in my school, so, not many 'cool' nicknames were thrown my way," Ray chuckled nervously and pushed his glasses up on his face. 

"Really?" Gavin turned to Michael. "Mi-cool, can you believe that no one's called him X-Ray before?!" Michael rolled his eyes and looked at Ray with apologies in his eyes. Gavin turned back to Ray. "I'm calling you X-Ray, is that cool?" 

"Uh, yeah? I'll come up with a nick name with you eventually," Ray laughed, starting to feel more comfortable around this Gavin guy. He was funny, if a bit stupid. 

Ray looked around the room that was supposed to be his and Gavin's for the next two years to share and to make wonderful memories....or at least that's what dorm rooms always seemed like to Ray. Maybe it was all the TV shows and movies he watched when he was younger. He didn't have much of a life away from his TV and computer. 

There were windows on the far wall that over looked a grassy part of the campus. Ray could see some people playing sports and he made a face. Ray and sports mixed as well as water and oil. He could hear Gavin and Michael having some sort of conversation about Halo and Michael yelling at Gavin every time he got a fact wrong about the game. 

"No, you idiot. Red Vs. Blue is based off of the game, the game isn't based on the show," Ray could hear Michael say. He sounded like he wanted to punch Gavin out.

Gavin laughed and Michael made a "huff" noise, sounding like he was three seconds away from throwing him out of the window. 

"You guys watch Red Vs. Blue?" Ray turned away from the window to look at Gavin and Michael. His eyes widened when he saw Michael on top of Gavin choking him while straddling him. "Uh, should I give you guys a minute?" Ray looked around. "I mean, I could just go explore the campus a little bit, maybe eat some food while you guys do the sex." 

Michael rolled off of Gavin who was laughing his ass off. "No, dickwad," Michael rolled his eyes. "We're not a thing. I have a girlfriend and he, somehow, has a boyfriend. His old roommate that got switched to a different platform. And even if I did swing that way, I don't know if I could actually put up with this idiot all the time," Michael looked at the laughing boy on the bed and lugged him to his feet. "And yeah, we watch Red Vs. Blue. It'd be pretty weird if we didn't considering it's made here and all," Ray just looked at him and blinked. "You didn't know that?" Michael asked and cocked his head to the side a little. "Yeah, it's made here, dude! Have you been living under a rock or something?" He laughed a little. "I'm surprised you didn't recognize Principal Burns' voice as Church," 

Ray could have slapped himself he was so stupid. How could he have not noticed that they were the same voice? Was he really that nervous? 

"Hey, X-Ray. You okay? You look a little dazed," Gavin waved his hand in front of Ray's face a little. 

"Uh, yeah, yeah," Ray shook his head to get out of his daze. "Sorry, Vav," He pushed his glasses up his face a little. He noticed it was one of his nervous habits. That along with laughing awkwardly when someone said something weird or there was an awkward silence. Giving him bad news was a fun experience. When his mom told him that his dad left them and she was almost in tears, he didn't know what to say, so he laughed a little. Her face was so sad and shocked looking that Ray started laughing harder without meaning too. The moral of the story was to not ever give Ray bad news unless you were ready to get laughed at by mistake. And it's not like Ray actually thought it was funny, it was a nervous thing he did. Other's did it, he was sure of it. 

"Vav?" Gavin asked as a goofy smile spread across his face. "Is that my nickname?" Gavin started bouncing on his toes a little. 

"Uh, yeah," Ray laughed a little and scratched the back of his head. "I'm not sure what it means, it just kinda came out, sorry if you don't like-" 

"I love it!" Gavin shouted cutting Ray off. Ray yelped as he was suddenly on the floor with an excited Gavin on top of him. He could hear Michael laughing in the background. 

"Ugh, get off of me! I can't breathe!" Ray tried to push Gavin off of him, but he wouldn't move. Ray was laughing a little too hard anyway to actually want him to move too much. 

"Okay, okay, asshole. Get off of Ray," Michael came over and practically picked Gavin up. So he was more ripped than Ray originally thought, he noted to not ever get on Michael's bad side ever. 

"Wait," Ray stood up and brushed off his clothes. "So Red Vs. Blue is made here? Are the voice actors all here? Or are they all teachers and shit?" Gavin and Michael both looked at Ray like he grew a second head. It was probably because Ray sounded a  _little_ too eager to know if the voice actors were around here. Ray looked at them. "What? I really like Red Vs. Blue," he grumbled. 

"You like Red Vs. Blue or you like a certain voice actor more?" Michael asked. He sounded smug. Ray looked up and saw that he looked smug too. He needed to learn how to not be so obvious. 

"Uh, no. I mean, I like Red Vs. Blue," Ray stuttered. He could feel his face heating up. He was a really bad liar, and by the look that they were giving him, they both knew that too. 

"X-Ray! You're such a bloody liar! So which one do you like?! C'mon, you can tell us. We're practically best friends now!" Gavin made large hand movements when he talked, almost hitting Michael in the face more than once. 

Ray didn't think that they were best friends quite yet. Maybe more like normal friends, or good friends. Or maybe they were best friends. Ray's never had a best friend, so maybe he didn't know what it felt like to have one. Maybe making stupid nicknames and tackling each other meant that they were best friends now. If not both of them, then at least Gavin. 

"It's uh. It's not really important, is it?" Ray looked at Gavin, hoping he would drop the subject. 

"Of course it's important! We could set you up with him or her. We don't judge here," Gavin finished with a large smile, causing Ray to blush more and Michael to laugh. 

"Uh, it's a him. And, uh. Is this really important? Couldn't we talk about this later? Like, after you guys show me around a little?" 

Michael, sensing that Ray was definitely uncomfortable now stepped in and said, "Yeah, we should probably show you around. Where your classes are and everything. What classes are you taking?" Michael hurried to ask the question, knowing that Gavin would keep pestering Ray about his crush. 

"Uh, I'm in the FPS class. I think mostly Black Ops and Halo," Ray shot Michael a thankful look who gave him a smile in return. 

"We know where that is. I'm in the classes that play the 'rage quit' games. And Gavin's in video game development classes. He's also in the FPS class, but more because he needs to take an actual video game class where he  _plays_ the game, and not make them," 

Ray looked over at Gavin a little surprised. That guy that acts like an idiot makes video games? Almost as if Gavin could read his mind he said, "I do mostly slow motion stuff with Dan," At seeing Ray's confused face over who Dan is, he quickly added, "My boyfriend." Ray nodded in understanding. Well, understanding as in that he had a boyfriend, not in what a boyfriend actually did. He never had a boyfriend, never had a relationship, barely even a friendship, unless his bunny counted...but he didn't think that counted. 

"C'mon, X-Ray, let's go show you around. Oh, and meet Geoff! Geoff's the best. He plays Grif in the show." Gavin nodded as if he was confirming what he had just said. 

"Uh, yeah. Okay. Let's go," Ray nodded and followed Michael and Gavin out of the room. 

As Ray shut the door and turned to follow his friends around the corner, he bumped into something. 

No. 

Someone. 

"Oh, fuck. Sorry," Ray apologized looking up at the guy he just bumped into. He saw a mess of black hair and a confused set of dark brown eyes that were looking at him. "Uh, yeah. So, I mean, I'm just...I'm just gonna go." Ray didn't want to admit that his heart had skipped a beat or that his face was probably as red as a tomato. 

"Oh, okay..." The guy mumbled, staring after the kid that had run into him. Who was that? He shook his head and started down the hallway again.

\----- 

"Holy shit. Fuck. Shit," Ray kept cursing as he left the building and looked for his friends. "Where the hell are they?" He muttered under his breath. "I was gone for like a minute," Ray didn't even try to lie to himself that he was freaking out. There were kids everywhere it seemed and Ray didn't cope too well with a lot of people that were surrounding him, and even less when he had bumped into a guy that he had a stupid crush on. 

Ray sighed and took out his phone, and then cursed himself when he realized he didn't even get their phone numbers. He never had friends before, he forgets simple things like this. He ran his hands through his hair and looked around him again. Yes, there were a lot of kids, but none of them that he could see were Michael or Gavin. What was he supposed to do? He didn't want to keep walking around, then he'd get  _really_ lost and what if they were looking for him? It would just cause a lot of problems. He decided that he would just ask someone if they saw them. It would be awkward. Really awkward, but Ray didn't want to be stuck in a crowd of people alone anymore. 

He spotted a girl that was reading under a tree and awkwardly walked over to her. She looked up from her book and Ray got a hundred times more nervous. "So, hey, this is really weird, but my name is Ray, and I was looking for these two guys name Michael and Gavin?" He seriously hoped that this girl knew who they were or else he was going to be screwed and embarrassed...well more embarrassed than he already was. 

The girl blinked up at him through her red bangs. She carefully marked her place in her book and stood up. "Yeah, I know them. One of them is my boyfriend. He's kind of a dick if he left you though," She looked thoughtful, but Ray could see the playful glint in her eye. "But, don't worry, I did see where they were going. He'd be a shit boyfriend if he didn't even come say 'hi' to me when he saw me," Oh, so this was Michael's girlfriend. What was her name again? Linda...? Lindsay? "They went that way though." She pointed towards a path that led down a hill toward more buildings. 

Ray sighed in relief and patted Lindsay's shoulder. "Thank's, Lindsay!" Without waiting for her reply he turned and started jogging in the way she had pointed, missing her confused face as she wondered how he knew who she was. She shrugged as she watched the Puerto Rican jog away and sat back down under the tree and opened her book back up.

 

 


	3. Introducing: Joel and Geoff

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little longer on the wait this time...that's my bad. Updates might be a little slow with the end of the year and all the exams coming up. After June 18th, updates should be more frequent. 
> 
> Just an FYI, there might be times when I don't update for a month...if that happens, I'll try to let you guys know-well I'll try not to let it happen at all. It's not because I'm lazy, I just get anxiety and depression a lot and it causes me to get writers block and it causes me to get nervous about posting stuff. 
> 
> Anyway, I hope you guys like the chapter :)

A few hours (and three or four beers--Joel wasn't counting. Really. He  _wasn't_ ), Joel was pacing around his dorm room and still couldn't get that kid out of his head.  _'He's probably just a fan' ,_ he had thought ten minutes after they bumped into each other. It would explain why the kid was nervous and couldn't get more than three words out, but that didn't explain why Joel was still thinking about him. Joel never thought about fans for longer than six or seven minutes, even if they were cute. Yet, here he was, feeling like a twelve year old girl with a school crush. 

Joel wasn't much for words. He couldn't ever get what he wanted to say to come out of his mouth in the right way. He either ends up offending them, stuttering out something that resembles a sentence, or, God forbid, talk in his Caboose voice. He couldn't help it really. His mind was always whizzing around everywhere and he couldn't keep a train of thought for longer than two minutes. Some people would say it's because he doesn't talk to anyone and his mind is the only thing that he talks to, but others, his  _friends,_ would say it was because he was a "neurotic idiot". 

Joel would argue that he's not neurotic--really, he  _isn't--_ his mind just...goes a little faster than most peoples, and he needs to check things sometimes like the sink or a shower to make sure that it wasn't running, and sometimes, yes he will admit, he has panic attacks because his mind overworks itself. It tended to happen when he needed to work with any sort of technology. Geoff and Burnie thinks it's hilarious. It's not. Not really. 

But despite all this, this kid has managed to keep his mind on him, and only him. He fucked up his lines during the recording session, and he's pretty sure his class thought he was high while he was teaching. Geoff has noticed too, and so has other people like Gus. Geoff brought Joel drinks throughout his class, much to Gus' disliking, and Geoff made sure all those drinks were alcoholic. 

Geoff currently sat at his desk, desperately trying to type and not interfere with whatever was going on in Joel's vast mind. He could only ignore his friend's pacing and muttering for so long though, and he did have to make sure that he wasn't actually having an aneurysm.

"Joel," Geoff began cautiously. "maybe you should, uh, sit down," Geoff winced internally when Joel spun on his heel and narrowed his eyes at him. "I mean, like, just," Geoff struggled for words. "Goddamit...Joel, just. Sit on your bed, man, and tell me why you haven't been focused today," Geoff sighed in a relief a little when Joel sat down, even though his eyes were still narrowed and on him.  

"I've been focused today," Joel had muttered. Geoff sighed, he sounded like a teenager.  _  
_

"Is that why you fucked up on all of your lines today?" Geoff looked pointedly at Joel, who averted his eyes. "I'm not an idiot, Joel. We've lived together in this dorm room for two years. I've picked up on a couple of your traits, ya know," 

Joel sighed and looked away from Geoff toward their door, almost as if he was scared that someone was going to walk through and hear what he was going to say. "It's just...There's this, this guy who I met today..." He trailed off and scratched at the stubble on his jaw. 

"A guy? Joel, that's okay...you've never freaked out about meeting some one new before...?" Geoff, by this point, was beyond confused. 

"It's not...he's a kid, really. He's, he's probably like, sixteen at the most," Joel waved his hand around. 

"So...what's the problem exactly?" 

Joel's eyes narrowed more. "The problem is," He stood up, much to Geoff's dismay. "that he's  _sixteen_ and I can't get him out of my head! This, this kid who bumps into me and then stutters out some apology and then runs off to his friends somehow manages to leave an impression on me," he laughed a little hysterically and Geoff was getting more and more concerned for his friend.

"Okay, okay," Geoff put his hands up in a surrendering position. "I still don't get the problem though. Do you like this kid or something?" Joel turned again and glared at Geoff who shrunk back against his chair. "So that's a yes," 

"I can't like this kid, Geoff! He's seven years younger than me!" Joel swung his arms around and Geoff had to swallow a laugh. He scratched his colorful arms and looked thoughtful for a second, but he could be faking it for all Joel knows. 

"Well, when you think about it...seven years isn't much of a difference. I mean, Griffon's three years younger than me." Geoff could see that his reasoning with Joel wasn't going to get him anywhere, but boy could he hope. 

"Three years isn't that much!" Joel collapsed onto his bed. His torso was on the bed while his legs were off and his feet were on the carpet. Geoff could see that his hands were covering his face. Geoff sighed and decided that it was useless trying to talk Joel out of what he was thinking, so he swiveled back to his laptop and continued to type. 

He could hear Joel muttering under his breath and tried to ignore it. He thought he was doing well when he heard Joel mutter, "Fucking Bright Eyes, fucking everything..." Geoff spun back around. 

"Bright Eyes? As in that indie band?" Geoff raised an eyebrow as Joel sat up and looked at him. 

"No, no, not the band. How did you even know? Never mind," Joel shook his head and fell back on the bed again. 

"No, I'm sorry, Joel. Tell me, seriously, why'd you say bright eyes?" Geoff used his feet to drag his chair closer to the bed Joel was on. 

"The kid. When I saw him, before he realized it was me, his eyes were all sparkly and bright and he looked so fucking happy," Joel felt like his heart was dropping to his stomach when he said this. Of course he knew this fact, but knowing it and then saying it out loud are two different things. Saying it out loud meant it was true; confirming it was true, and Joel knew that he wasn't good enough for this Bright Eyes kid. He was happy and he was obviously rich enough to get into this school--Joel immediately berated himself for thinking that he could use money to try to win over a guy--so what was left? Why would someone so happy looking like Bright Eyes want to be with a neurotic nut case like himself? "Besides," Joel muttered. "I need something to call this kid." 

Geoff looked at his friend with his brow furrowed. He didn't like seeing his friend like this, the last time Joel was this panicked was when the gold stock almost fell. And that was three years ago. He should ask Gavin if he knows this kid, or tell him that he should meet this kid at least. He felt kind of bad that he was using his younger friend to help Joel, but he thought that hey, it would get Joel a possible boyfriend and Gavin a new friend. Everybody won! Geoff was telling himself that at least. 

\-----

"X-Ray! Where were you? We thought you got lost!" Gavin laughed when Ray practically ran into his back. He felt a little bad because he didn't notice that Ray was missing. 

"Getting my dick sucked, Vav," Ray replied with a completely straight face. 

"Oh God," Michael laughed. "I hope your kids don't develop your sarcasm," The red head shook his head slightly. He was happy that he yelled at Ray for just standing there. He made a friend, and Gavin got a roommate and a new friend as well. And he was happy that Gavin wasn't whining about not having a roommate anymore. That was getting really old, and Michael was close to punching him in his stupid face. 

"Mi-cool," Speak of the devil himself. "I'm hungry. Can we get food?" Michael looked over to Gavin and inwardly groaned when he saw that Gavin whipped out the puppy dog eyes. 

"Yeah, Mi-cool," Ray mocked Gavin in a horrible British accent. "We should get food, though," Ray was back to talking like normal. "I didn't eat at all on the cross to America," Michael and Gavin just looked at him. "What? The guy said that we couldn't make any noise in the truck. No noise, no food," When neither boy said anything, Ray burst into laughter. "Did you guys actually believe me? I'm not an illegal immigrant, you idiots," Ray was doubled over at this point. "How would I know English so well?" 

After about a minute, Michael's senses kicked in and he shoved the laughing boy. "You dick wipe, we were really worried for you!" 

"Yeah, Ray! What would we have done if you  _were_ an illegal immigrant, you mong!" Gavin was yelling, but he was smiling at the same time. Ray wasn't worried that he had made a mistake, he was happy he made friends with these boys. Gavin helped Ray up when he was finished laughing and turned back to Michael. "But seriously, we should get food." 

"Yeah, yeah alright. We'll go get food. But we do have to show Ray his classes after. He starts tomorrow and I don't want his first time in a classroom to be with only you," Michael rolled his eyes as he led them to the food court. 

"Mi-cool!" Gavin scoffed. "I'll have you know I'm a great first time!" Gavin acted hurt. 

"Yeah, I'm sure your boyfriend would say something different," Ray laughed.

"Ra-ay!" Gavin stretched Ray's name to two syllables. "I hate you," He muttered. Ray rolled his eyes but jumped on Gavin's back.

"I love you too, Vav!" Gavin squawked as he tried to balance himself with the new weight on his back. "Now, to the food!" Ray pointed forward toward the food and Gavin tried to struggle forward whilst Michael watched the pair in amusement. 

Ray struggled with the thought of telling Gavin and Michael about literally bumping into Joel. He knew if he told them, they would tease him mercilessly about it and then try to get them together at every possible moment. He only just met these guys, but he felt like he knew them for forever. If this is what having best friends is like, Ray would've wished he had left the house to  _try_ to find some kind of friend instead of sitting in front of his Xbox.

Gavin jostled during the walk causing Ray to yelp and almost fall off. "Sorry, X-Ray. Lost my footing. We're almost to the treasure,"

Ray rolled his eyes and left his train of thought of telling his friends about Joel. So sue him if it was wrong to keep it to himself. It's not like Joel even remembered him anyway.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, is Ray making the right choice in not telling Michael and Gavin about Joel? And it Geoff dong the right thing about using Gavin to help Joel? Let me know! And tell me if I'm making any mistakes, and just your opinions. I love getting opinions, good and/or bad. :D


	4. Parties, Dan, and Haywood-Not in That Order

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think I've got a schedule set up for this story. I'm gonna try to update it every Saturday if I can. It might get a little squidgy, but I shall try :) 
> 
> Hope you enjoy this chapter!! :D

The three boys were sitting in the food court at a table that was covered in ketchup and french fries because of Ray and Gavin throwing fries at each other and Michael, despite the latter screaming at them to 'fucking stop already'. The memory of Joel had left Ray's mind at this point, and he planned to keep it in a box on a shelf in the very back of his mind. 

"Gav," Michael was looking over the Brits shoulder, who was leaning the majority of his weight onto Ray, almost falling in his lap. "GAVIN!" Michael pounded his hands on the table then made a face when he realized they were covered in ketchup now.

Gavin looked up at Michael with a dopey smile on his face. "What, Mi-cool?" 

"Your fucking boyfriend is coming over, thought you'd wanna know," Michael grumbled and wiped his hands on napkins that Ray handed him. 

Gavin tried to sit up but fell, completely falling into Ray's lap, making them both start laughing. Michael rolled his eyes, but was inwardly a little worried for Ray if Dan saw them and took it the wrong way. Dan was kind of known to be a little uh...jealous, something that Michael's been on the end of before. And even he'll admit, it's a little scary seeing Dan jealous-don't get him wrong, he would get jealous of guys talking to Lindsay-he just wasn't muscle packed like Dan was. 

"Hey, B," Dan said, pulling him up off of Ray and into a hug. Ray looked at Michael a little confusedly as Dan didn't even acknowledge him or Michael. Michael gave him a look that said 'I'll tell you later'. Ray shrugged and turned back to his plate of french fries. Michael noticed that Ray looked a little...put out almost. He wondered if this kind of thing happened a lot to Ray or if he was just really shy before he came to Achievement Hunter. He opened his mouth to say something, but decided against it. If Ray wanted to tell him anything, then he would. There was no point in Michael trying to get information out if Ray wasn't going to tell him. 

"Dan! I thought you had a class?" Gavin cocked his head to the side while still clinging onto Dan's side. 

"I did," Dan laughed. "It ended. It's like," he reached around Gavin's shoulder to look at the digital watch on his wrist. "one o'clock, B. What have you been doing?" He look pointedly over at Ray when he said this and Ray shrunk inward a little while eating a fry. 

"Oh," Gavin sprung up and bounced over to Ray and sprung an arm around his Ray who flinched a little at the touch. Gavin didn't seem to notice. "This is Ray. He's new here. He's my new roommate. Mi-cool ran into the silly sausage earlier because he was lost." He turned to Ray. "This is Dan, my boyfriend. He used to be my roommate before he switched to a different set of classes," He nodded as if confirming his own statement. 

"Oh, uh, that's cool," Ray shrugged Gavin's arm off his shoulder and pushed his glasses up. "What classes are you in now?" 

Gavin pulled Dan to sit down and then plopped down in his lap. Michael looked warily over at them and wondered how Gavin couldn't see that Ray was obviously uncomfortable. Then again, Gavin always was kind of slow in more ways than one. Dan kept giving Ray a weird look, as if he thinks that Ray would try to make a move on Gavin because they were roommates. 

"I'm in the FPS classes now. I used to be in the video game design classes, but for some reason, Call of Duty always called to me. I think it was because of it having to do with the military," Dan scratched the back of his neck with the hand that wasn't going through Gavin's hair. "I've always liked the military, I guess," Dan shrugged. "I'm not too great at it, but it's fun and I enjoy it more than making video games," He shrugged again. "What about you? What classes are you in?" He nodded toward to Ray. 

"Oh," Ray got suddenly awkward again like when he first met Gavin and Michael. Michael decided then that he would talk to Gavin about Dan. He didn't have anything against Dan, okay maybe he did a little. But talking to Gavin would be safer than trying to talk to Dan, and Michael didn't think that Ray would even want to talk. "I'm in FPS classes too. Only Halo and Call of Duty," He laughed a little. "Maybe you'll be in my Call of Duty class." Ray looked up and he looked a little less shy because he got to talk to someone who was in his FPS CoD class and not just the Halo class that Gavin was in with him. 

Dan laughed and relaxed a little which caused Michael to relax a little. He wondered why he was feeling a little protective over Ray, maybe it was because he didn't want Ray to be alone in the school. He would never tell anyone, but he knew what it was like to be alone, especially when he was new at this school. If he wasn't lucky and met Lindsay when he first came here, he'd probably be alone. And yeah, being alone sucked, he'd admit that. 

"Maybe we will be in the same class. But if we are, I'll crush you," Dan continued to laugh, but Ray could tell that, that wasn't an empty threat. He knew he wouldn't be crushed, he was great at Call of Duty, he did get a scholarship in this school and all, but the threat did kind of make him uneasy. If he didn't get beat badly at that, he knew his scholarship would be taken away and he'd be forced to go home. His secret would be exposed that way, and he would be made fun of even though he wouldn't even be able to stay here, and he was just starting to make friends, and if he went back home he'd have no friends and-

"Yo, Ray," Michael's voice cut off Ray's inner anxious ramble. "You okay?" Ray looked over at Michael and tried to give him a reassuring smile. By the furrow in Michael's brow, he didn't think that Michael believed that he was actually okay. Maybe he should just tell them that he was here on a scholarship? But what if they didn't like him because he wasn't rich? He didn't think that they would be like that, but the doubt that they would be that shallow was always there in Ray's mind. 

"I'm fine, Michael, don't worry. Just a little nervous for classes tomorrow," Ray shrugged and pushed his plate of french fries closer to Gavin who was still eating them, oblivious to Ray almost breaking down in front of them. 

"But, X-Ray," Gavin punched Ray's arm. "I'll be with you for your first class tomorrow and the next day, Dan might be with you. You'll be great! I'll bet you'll kick everyone's ass!" They all laughed, even Dan, though he was still kind of glaring at Ray discreetly. 

"He'll kick your ass for sure, Gav," Michael said and laughed at Gavin's 'Mi-cool!' which he proceeded to mock in a high pitch British accent. Maybe Michael was wrong, maybe Dan and Ray would be able to get along. Ray didn't seem like he was going to be much of a threat, and Dan probably wouldn't actually threat Ray in anything physical. He would keep an eye out though, just in case.

\-----

"So those are your classes. They start-" 

"At eight thirty, yes I know, Mom," Ray cut Gavin off and rolled his eyes. Dan had left before they went to Ray's classes to go 'practice', though Ray and Michael thought he was practicing so he could beat Ray. Ray was a little wary after meeting Dan, and it took an hour before he was back to the sarcastic guy he usually is. He came to the conclusion that if Dan was going to try to beat him at Call of Duty, he wouldn't hold back to be nice, he would beat him right back. Sure, maybe it sounded a little mean, but dammit, Ray finally had some friends and he was going to keep them.

The trio, which Gavin had dubbed them as, 'The Lads,' saying, "C'mon guys! It's a top name!", had made it back from Ray's classes and were now sitting in the lounge room which was basically the whole bottom floor of their dorm building. Ray and Gavin were playing Black Ops versus, because both Michael and Gavin wanted to see how good or how bad Ray was at it and Gavin was losing...by a lot. 

"Dammit, Ray! I hate you!" Gavin yelled as he died again and re spawned next to a car that looked like it belonged in a futuristic show. They were currently in the Nuke Town map and Gavin was really just running around the map trying to find Ray who was perched up on a windowsill, dropping a knife every time Gavin ran by. Michael was sitting by a sign that read 'Welcome to Nuke Town' without any gear on, just laughing every time Gavin was killed. There was the occasional death to Michael by Gavin in frustration, and Michael would yell at him every time that he 'wasn't fucking playing, Jesus Christ!'. 

"In your defense," Michael began, and Ray and Gavin could hear him snickering on the intercom. "you do suck at video games," Ray laughed as he heard another shout from Michael and the notice that MLPMichael has been stabbed by GavinoFree pop up in front of him. Another pop up came up that read, 'BM_Vegabond has joined the party'. 

"Who's BM_Vegabond?" Ray asked as he dropped down from the windowsill and melee killed Gavin, much to the latter's annoyance. 

"That's Ryan. He's a cool dude. Has a thing with cows, mostly in Minecraft though," Michael laughed. 

"Leave Edgar out of this, Michael!" Ray heard a deep voice laugh from his intercom and assumed that it was Ryan. "Who's the kid that's kicking Gavin's ass at Call of Duty?" The same voice asked.   


"That'd be me," Ray said, he walked over to the entrance of the level and saw a welt built man standing with an amused smile on his face. His hair was blonde and perfectly parted in the center. "I'm the kid kicking Gavin's ass. I'm Ray." He smiled up at the guy with his eyes crinkled shut. 

"Cheeky little bugger," Gavin muttered. 

Ryan laughed, his laugh as deep as his voice. Gavin bounced up next to them and held his hands up in a surrendering position when Ray took his knife out. "Yep, so this is Ryan. AKA the guy who will beat anyone up. So if you got a problem voice it to him," Gavin bounced himself against Ryan's side, and Ryan didn't even move. Maybe he had more muscle under the Call of Duty gear than Ray thought. "Just because I beat up that one kid that one time for you, I'm suddenly the muscles of the group," 

"The group?" Ray asked as he knifed Gavin, despite him trying to hide behind Ryan. 

"Yeah, it consists of the people that are on the FPS team that the school uses for competitions and stuff. We're not all officially in the FPS classes like you guys, but we're all pretty good," Ryan turned to Gavin. "Better than him at least," They both laughed and Gavin squawked a little as he was shot by Michael from behind. 

"Yeah," Michael said. "It's five of us. Michael, Gavino, Geoff, Jack, and I. You could probably join it. You just need to ask Geoff, he's the teacher of the group and he makes the decision of the people who are in the group and not. If you're score from here is anything to go by, you'll definitely be able to join," Michael yelped as he died from Gavin re spawning and shooting him. 

"We're all hanging out on-would you stop shooting for five minutes, please," Ryan's voice took on an almost sinister tone as he asked this, and it sent shivers up his spine. When Gavin and Michael stopped firing at each other, Ryan smiled and continued to talk. "Anyway, we're all hanging out this Friday and going out, you should come with us," Ryan smiled at Ray.   


Ray's stomach started to get moths flying around. Moths are like butterflies, only not nice or good. "Uh, I'm not sure. I'm not that great with parties," Ray pushed his glasses up and fiddled with the gun that was hung around his body.

"It's not even a party, X-Ray. Besides, you'll meet Geoff and Jack!" Gavin looked over to where Ryan was leaning against the welcome sign. "Don't you have a date in like ten minutes?" Michael tackled Gavin to the ground. "Dammit, Mi-cool, you little Mong!" 

"That's not even a real word!" Michael laughed as he managed to blow up a grenade killing the three boys that were left. "If I die, you all die with me!" Michael laughed and then disconnected from the game. The other two boys followed suit. 

Ray turned around on his bed so he was facing the two other boys. "But, seriously guys, I don't think I want to go to the party or whatever," Ray shrugged when he saw Gavin's face fall a little. 

"But, X-Ray, you'll get to meet Jack and Geoff! You'll love them, I promise! And you're my one of my best friends, and you need to go!" Gavin crawled on top of Ray obnoxiously. "Pleeeeaaaasseeeee?" Gavin strung the word out. 

Ray sighed, "Fine, fine. I'll go, just get off of me Vav!" Gavin went limp on top of Ray who looked over at Michael for help. The latter shrugged and laughed a little watching Ray struggle to get Gavin off of him.

"It'll be fun, Ray, don't you worry." Gavin smiled and then snuggled in as if he was going to sleep. 

"No, no. You don't get to sleep on me. Get off!" Ray yelled and shoved Gavin off of him and onto the floor.

"You're so mean, X-Ray," Gavin grumbled and climbed back up on the bed and punched Ray on the arm. 

  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter done!! I hope you enjoyed it! Give me opinions on what you thought about the way I did the video games...too unclear, too confusing? Let me know! See you next time :)


	5. Ray's First Class, A Possible Enemy, And A Party-In That Order

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Saturday, have a chapter. It features a cameo appearance from a favorite guitar player of mine.

Ray wasn't sure what he was supposed to be feeling. He knew it was normal to feel nervous, and he knew that he was feeling more nervous because Dan was in his class. He was sure Dan was a nice dude, and that he was only suspicious of Ray because he was Gavin's new roommate, but Jesus, Ray wasn't someone who did that. And even if he was, he wouldn't go for Gavin. He was a nice guy, wasn't he? He made friends his first day here. Sure he didn't always feel like he was part of this world-mostly when Gavin and Michael shared some kind of inside joke-but dammit, he was a good guy and he wasn't going to let someone like Dan make him feel like he wasn't.

These thoughts went through Ray's head for hours throughout the night until he finally succumbed to sleep at three in the morning. He was surprised that Gavin didn't wake up from Ray whispering worrying thoughts into the empty room or his heart that he was sure made a tattoo from the inside out. 

He was now on his way to his first class of the day, walking alongside next to Gavin who was babbling something about how even if Ray didn't come in first place, that he would always be better than himself, and while Ray appreciated the effort of a pep talk, it really wasn't helping the moths in his stomach. He wasn't worried about the other people, he was sure he wasn't going to be last, he was worried that Dan would make it his personal mission to make sure Ray died by his hands, and his hands only.

Just stay away from Dan on the map. It was probably going to be a big map, he could easily avoid Dan by just staying on the other side. And if that didn't work, than, he would just try to kill Dan before he got killed. Simple. Right? 

"Ray, you sit here," Gavin plopped down in a seat and motioned to the seat to the right of him. Ray didn't know when they made it to the classroom or how many people were going to be in the class, but he could see a skinny, scruffy looking man sitting at a desk looking barely awake. He was drinking something that didn't look like coffee.

Gavin noticed him looking. "Oh, that's Geoff. He's the teacher here, well he mostly just sits there and yells if someone does something stupid. He's the guy that me and Ryan want you meet," Gavin pulled Ray into a chair. "Hey, Geoff!" Gavin shouted, looking over Ray's head to see Geoff look up and glare in their direction. Ray immediately sunk down a little in his chair. 

"What the hell do you want, Gavin? It's very early and there's the new kid," He gestured to Ray with his arm, which Ray noticed was heavily tattooed. "and I have a freaking out best friend, and I swear kid," He looked at Ray. "Ryan said you were good. That you should be on the team. Be good. Just...beat Gavin," His voice cracked several times throughout his little speech, and he looked toward the doorway as more kids came through. 

Ray noticed Dan, and looked away as Dan came over to them and sat down next to Gavin. Ray pretended to be fiddling with the console and controller while they exchanged little words of hello. Ray chanced a peak upwards and caught Dan's eye. He smiled, trying to be friendly, and Dan smiled back. Ray thought maybe Dan didn't think he was a threat anymore, because he wasn't. But Dan swooped in and gave Gavin a quick kiss while still looking at Ray. Ray felt more than awkward and turned back to the monitor in front of him.He heard a conversation happening to the left of him, but paid little attention to it and hoped that the class would start soon. 

He only had to wait another two minutes when Geoff stood up from his desk. "Okay, cockbites. We have a new kid," He pointed to Ray. "His name is Ray Narvaez Jr., don't be dicks to him," Geoff walked to the front of the class room. "I'm tired and a little hung over," Ray heard Gavin mutter something under his breath. "Shut it, Free," the class chuckled as Gavin was berated. "So, anyway," he clapped his hands together. "it's going to be a simple day. Simple Free For All, rounds last twenty minutes or until someone gets thirty kills,"

The classroom seemed to almost be chattering with excitement, and Ray wondered if they played Free For All a lot. Ray looked back to the monitor as it lit up with the Call of Duty menu. He noticed that Gavin was putting on his headphones, and went to do the same thing. 

"Okay," Geoff said from his computer, he seemed to be typing something, and Ray assumed he was setting up the round. As soon as it's ready, you guys can go. Have fun, don't disappoint." Geoff looked pointedly at Ray when he said this, and Ray felt his stomach moths flutter. 

\-----

Ray looked around the map they were in and recognized it as the Containment map. He felt a little relieved that at least he knew the map well. 

"Don't worry, X-Ray, you'll be great!" Ray heard Gavin chirp from his headset and then heard other voices of encouragement from others. Maybe all the kids here weren't assholes like people were at Ray's old school. 

Ray saw the countdown in front of him as it went from three to one. The words "Go" flashed in front of him, and he immediately heard gunshots. Well, shit, maybe they were a lot closer than Ray thought. Ray started to walk around and held his SA-805 closer to himself. He startled as someone ran past him and lifted his gun, shooting at the figure. He smiled a little when he realized he had the first kill of the game, but his smile was immediately wiped as he was shot by none other than one Dan Gruchy. 

Ray sighed as he re-spawned in a building. So fine, if Dan wanted to play that game, than Ray would play, and he would win. Ray took a deep breath, and let himself get absorbed into the game like he did when he would play it at home. 

He walked out of the building and raised his gun, ready to fire if someone came by. He heard a shot whiz through the air past his head, and turned around shooting and knocking a sniped from the top of building. He could hear muffled cursing from his headset. He looked up at the menu that showed kills to see that Dan was currently in the lead with five kills while he was in the second with two. Yeah, they were three minutes into the game, but five kills was a lot for that time. 

"Motherfucker," Ray muttered as he ran up a hill only to see basically the whole class in a gully shooting back and forth. "Well, what kind of person would I be if I didn't snipe," He whispered to himself. He was happy that the mic didn't pick up on whispers or else he'd had about ten kids pointing guns at him. He lay down in the sand and pulled out his USR, positioning it in front of his face. He could feel the air whipping past him and he looked through the scope and held his breath to steady it. He aimed the gun and pulled the trigger as he breathed out and saw as the person went down. He quickly reloaded and shot again seeing another fall. He hoped no one would notice that the shots were coming from the hill he was on. 

He aimed the gun at Gavin and smirked a little as he shot and fully smiled when he heard a "Dammit, X-Ray!" from his headset. He stayed silent as he shot another person down with two shots and he heard more muffled curses. He sat up when people started to look toward where he was and took off running to the side of the hill. He could hear bullets go past him and saw the sand shooting up from his feet.

He shot behind the corner of a building and was breathing heavily. Gavin ran past the corner, and Ray quickly knifed him. Ray heard more muffled cursing from his headset. "This is fucking bullshit!" Ray snickered as he heard Dan shout about getting killed again by him. It wasn't Ray's fault that he had no friends and that he played too much Xbox as a result of it. He was good at the game, and no one was going to intimidate him into being bad. 

With a new found confidence, Ray smiled to himself. 

\-----

"You guys said it was a hang out, not a party-in fact you specifically told me it wasn't going to be a party. So," Ray gestured to the building in front of them that was lit up from the inside. "what, the fuck is this?" He tried to drag his feet, but Michael had a strong grip around his neck and was pulling him forwards. 

"It's not a party," Michael insisted. "It's a party building yes, but a lot of people use it as hang outs for gaming nights,"

"Besides, we need a celebration for you getting into the FPS team!" Gavin chirped and ran ahead of the other two lads to the door. 

Ray rolled his eyes. "It wasn't that hard to get into, especially if  _you_ got in," Michael laughed and they stopped in front of the building doors. 

"Look Ray, it'll be fine. There aren't a lot of people here. Just the group and I'll introduce them to you," He pointed a finger at Gavin as the Brit went to open his mouth. " _I_ will introduce him," Gavin's mouth shut and he made a scoffing sound. Michael just rolled his eyes, and Ray wondered how long they had been friends. Michael opened the door and Gavin went in first with a squeak of a 'thank you' to him and he dragged a nervous Ray along with him. "And there may be possibly some others that Geoff and Jack invited because they like to drink, so they probably brought some drinking friends, but not too many. And probably some of the Red Vs. Blue cast and some others," Michael looked at Ray's panicked face. "But don't worry," Ray went to open his mouth to make some excuse about how no, he really couldn't stay here because he had to do something, anything else and that he really was sorry-"Heyy, Jack," Michael drawled and Ray snapped his mouth closed. Well, there goes that option. He would just have to suck it up and try not to embarrass himself. 

The man, Jack, had a thick ginger beard and was wearing glasses. He looked like a fatherly figure, and Ray wondered how Geoff liked to drink with him. Geoff was a hardcore drinker, Ray had ended up at the conclusion at the end of his first class when the man said goodbye to them while holding another can up as a wave. 

"Hey, Michael," Jack made a little wave with the hand that wasn't occupied with a drink. He looked at Ray. "You must be Ray," Ray nodded. "I heard you're pretty kick ass at video games," Jack clasped a big hand onto Ray's shoulder. "Good job, kid. Welcome to the team and Achievement Hunter. Do you want a drink?" 

Ray shook his head. "I don't, uh drink. Sorry," 

Jack laughed. "You don't need to be sorry if you don't drink. It's cool, Geoff might make fun of you a little bit, but that's cause he's just an asshole," 

"I heard that, fucker!" Ray heard a shout coming from a group of people all siting around on couches in front of a large TV screen, and Jack laughed in response. Ray looked next to him to where Michael was standing, but was discouraged when he noticed that Michael had run off somewhere. 

"Hey, don't worry, kid. You'll fit in just fine around here. We're like a big family," Jack smiled. With that, Jack turned and went back to the couches, leaving Ray standing next to the bar more than a little lost. 

The party building was nice, and not at all like a bar that Ray had initially expected from outside. The people seemed nice, and yeah, maybe on his second day he might have made an enemy, but Ray didn't want to think about that. 

"Ray, c'mon," Gavin squawked from the couches. His head peaked up from behind Michael's and he looked toward's Ray. "You have to meet the others!" Ray smiled and shook his head as he heard Michael yell at Gavin about shouting and made his way over to the group of boys. 

\-----

Three hours later and Ray was well acquainted with the people around him, and it felt like he just melded right in with the group. No weirdness of the fact that he didn't drink, just the occasional joke from Geoff, and no one seemed to mind that he never talked about his family life. Lindsay joked about how they had already met when Ray was lost looking for her 'idiotic boyfriend and his butt buddy', and quickly engaged in a conversation with Ray over if cats were better than dogs. The conversation almost going to yelling when Ray defended dogs with his life, while Lindsay had a strange but affectionate love for cats. 

Ray stood up from the couch, "I'm gonna head outside for a sec. It's super hot in here," They group all made mumbling's of agreement and Ray made his way to the door. He opened the door and expected a cool breeze, but instead was met with another body. "Christ," Ray whispered when he went to grab the body before he fell over. "I fucking suck," He laughed a little and fixed his glasses. 

"Uh, you'd think I'd get a name from the kid who runs into me twice in two days," The voice was deep and filled with amusement. Ray looked up to see Joel standing there, a hand on Ray's elbow to steady him, and a cigarette hanging from his mouth.

"Well, you know," Ray laughed a little, but was sure his face was red. He realized that his hands were still gripping tightly onto Joel's hoodie and he let go and took a step back, Joel's hand falling from his elbow. "The element of mystery and all that," Ray shrugged and stuck his hands into his pockets. "What are you doing out here anyway?" Ray asked.

Joel took a long drag from his cigarette. "I'm waiting for my cousin to show up. I don't see him very often. He's a musician, tours the world," Joel laughed a little and waved his arm. Ray looked at the cigarette and the way the smoke curled up and around in the air as Joel waved it around. Joel turned to look at Ray. "I never did get your name, ya know," Joel pointed out and looked down at Ray.

"Well, get to know me a little more, and maybe you'll get my name," Ray wasn't sure where all this talk was coming from. The first time he met Joel, he stuttered and then fled. 

Joel smiled down at him and was going to open his mouth to say something, hopefully witty, when a black van pulled up with a white trailer that was heavily graffitied behind it. 

"I think," Ray started. "That, that's my cue to go." And without a goodbye, Ray sauntered back into the building. 

Joel groaned and dragged his hand over his face. His cousin had the best timing. Speaking of him, Joel watched the van as the back door slid open and his cousin popped out. His cousin was as short as ever with his lip piercing and everything that Joel wasn't, his tattooed arms were covered by a sweat shirt, but the scorpion on his neck was still visible. While Joel was all nerves and stutters and second guessing, his cousin was impulse and energy and music that Joel couldn't quite understand. 

"Jooooeeell!" His cousin cried and went up to hug said man. Joel couldn't stop the laugh that came out as his cousin basically just hugged his waist from how short he was. 

"Hey, Frank," Joel said and awkwardly hugged him back with the hand that didn't hold a cigarette. 

Frank pulled back and looked up at Joel and frowned a little. "I feel like I just interrupted something," He took a step back. "Did it have something to do with that kid that just walked back inside?" Joel would never cease to be amazed that his cousin could somehow just know when something was wrong. It must have been some kind of gift. A gift Joel wasn't born with. 

Joel sighed and ruffled Frank's black hair much to the younger's man annoyance. "Don't worry about it, Frankie," He threw his cigarette on the ground and stamped it out. "It's just a kid," Frank looked like he wanted to ask further questions, but decided not to. Good choice. "Anyway," Joel shoved his hands into his pockets. "tell me about touring. How was Europe?" And with that, Frank launched into what band life was like and about his boyfriend and how 'he's never been happier' and that he 'just wants Joel to be happy too instead of nervous and anxious all the time'. Joel inwardly sighed though. His chance to get Bright Eyes' name and maybe number was gone and he wasn't sure when he would work up any kind of nerve to approach Bright Eyes himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed it. Tell me things I did right! Tell me things I did wrong! Tell me things you hated or loved or just how I should never write again!


	6. Geoff's Plan

"Gavin, can I talk to you for a second?" Geoff grabbed Gavin's arm and dragged him away from the others, despite Gavin's yells. 

Gavin shrugged Geoff's hold off of his arm once they were away from everyone, and narrowed his eyes. "What?" 

It's not that Gavin and Geoff had a bad history, there were just some bitter feelings after Geoff had suggested to Dan to switch to FPS classes and got him switched out of Gavin's room. Geoff didn't know that Dan was Gavin's roommate, so it wasn't really his fault, but Gavin still held a grudge over it. 

"I need your help," Gavin's arms uncrossed and he cocked his head to the side. 

"With what? What would Geoff need Gavin's help for?" Gavin scratched his head.

Geoff rolled his eyes. "Don't refer to yourself in the third person, Gav," He crossed his tattooed arms over his chest. "There's this new kid, I'm pretty sure it's Ray, but apparently he ran into Joel the other day and Joel doesn't know his name and can't get him out of his head. I need you to try to convince Ray to talk to Joel, or at least give him his name." 

"Why should Ray talk to Joel if he doesn't want to? If he didn't even give his name to the bloke, why would he want to talk to Joel again?" Gavin's eyes narrowed again. "Besides, me and Mi-cool are pretty sure that he has his eyes on someone from the Red Vs. Blue crew." 

"You idiot," Geoff's voice cracked. "Who from Red Vs. Blue isn't already in a relationship?" 

Gavin thought for a second, his eyes widened. "Oh...Joel," 

"Yeah, you dipshit. Joel." Geoff looked behind him as Ray walked back in and sat down with everyone else again. "I don't think Joel knows, but I Ray got here on a scholarship-"

"What?! How do you know then? Since when can people get here on a scholarship?" Gavin's brows furrowed as he cut Geoff's sentence off. 

"Since forever, idiot. And I know because he's one of my students and it says that on his form. But it doesn't matter how I know-Wait. You didn't know Ray wasn't rich? He didn't tell you or Michael?" Geoff looked confused now. Why wouldn't Ray tell them that he was there on a scholarship. He was good, why wouldn't he tell people that? 

"No, we didn't know! Why didn't he tell us?" Gavin looked hurt and looked over to where Ray was sitting. 

"Look, Gav," Geoff shook his head and grabbed Gavin's arm to get his attention again. "It doesn't matter, but you can't let him know that you know he's here on a scholarship. He's not rich, not like you and me at least. But you need to get him to talk to Joel again." Gavin went to open his mouth. "Yes, you can tell Michael about this, get him to help you because I doubt that you can do this on your own." Gavin's mouth closed. 

"How are we supposed to get Ray and Joel together in the same room?" 

"I don't know yet, Gav. Joel's having his own freak out like he usually does when it comes to someone he likes. Just...Get Ray to come with us to the Cabin over spring break." Geoff turned to leave.

"Wait, Geoff!" Gavin hissed and Geoff heaved a sigh but turned around, his eyes looked tired from explaining everything to the Brit. "Spring break is in like three days, Geoff! How am I supposed to get Ray to come with us to the cabin in three days?!" 

Geoff rolled his eyes, his sockets almost feeling tired from the motion. "I...don't know Gavin, sorry. Just, try okay? Joel deserves to be happy for once." Geoff turned away again. 

"But, Geoff? What if he doesn't like..." Geoff just waved his arm as he walked back to the group. "...Joel?" 

Gavin's arm slumped down and he scratched his head as Michael came walking up with two drinks in his hands. "Hey, Gav," He handed the Brit  a drink. "What did Geoff want with you?" He asked as he took a sip of his own drink. 

Gavin took a gulp of his drink. "He has some...bloody plan. Apparently Ray ran into Joel a while ago and left an impression. Geoff wants us to try to get Ray to the cabin because Joel's going and Geoff thinks Joel should be happy for once in his bloody life." Gavin grumbled as his looked down into his drink. 

"What if Ray doesn't like Joel though? Why should Joel be the only one who gets to be happy according to Geoff?" Michael was almost yelling at this point and Gavin had to shush him so no one would look over at them. 

"I know, Mi-cool. That's what I said. We need to try to figure out if Joel's the guy that Ray likes." He took another drink. "Oh, Geoff also said that Ray's here on a scholarship." 

"Huh?" 

"Yeah," Gavin nodded, and his blonde hair bounced with the movement. "That's what he said. It shouldn't matter though, should it?" Gavin looked at Michael innocently. "It just means that Ray's good enough that he doesn't need money like us to get here...right?" 

Michael sighed. "Yeah, Gavvy-Wavvy, you're right." Michael ruffled Gavin's hair. He wondered when Gavin became smart about serious things like money, but was still dumb as a brick at video games. "And yeah," Michael sighed. "we'll try to get Ray to come with us to the cabin. Don't worry, everything will go fine, kay, Gav?" 

The latter nodded and finished his drink before turning to Michael. "Come, on, though. Let's go watch Ray beat Geoff at Halo some more!" 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for a short chapter. I had a lot of stuff going on this week. The next one will be longer, though.


	7. The Morning After

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A hungover Gavin and Michael ask Ray to come to the cabin, and Gavin comes up with a plan name.

Gavin groaned as he rolled over and ultimately fell off the bed in the process. Instead of the floor like he was expecting, he instead landed on another body. He blearily blinked his eyes open and heard a groan and a muffled curse from the body beneath him. 

"The fuck, Gav?" The voice that Gavin recognized to be Michael's groaned and the redhead proceeded to push the Brit off of him. "Get the fuck off of me," Gavin groaned a sat up, rubbing a hand through his hair. He heard a chuckle come from above him and he looked up to see Ray sitting on his bed, smiling as he watched his two friends. 

"What the hell happened last night, X-Ray?" 

Ray shrugged. "I'm not entirely sure. I didn't babysit you guys all night. I hung out with Geof and Jack most of the night. Ask lover boy over there," 

"Lover boy?" Gavin looked over to Michael where he was still on the floor with his eyes closed. 

"Yeah," Ray smirked. "You and him kept talking about your sex life and who was better at doing the other," Ray looked thoughtful for a minute. "You then proceeded to tell us in explicit detail about what you and Dan did in the bedroom and Michael trumped you by saying that him and Lindsay once-" 

"Don't you even fucking repeat what I said." Michael cut Ray off with a growl and a finger pointing toward the Puerto Rican. 

"I won't, I won't...though it was pretty great," Ray laughed a little. 

"Yeah, yeah, fucking asshole. It was fucking hilarious," 

"What?" Gavin looked  between the two boys. "What did he say?" 

Ray shrugged. "Ah, I guess you'll never know now," He stood up and patted Gavin on the head. "Maybe next time, Vav." Ray left with a comment about needing to shower before closing the door. 

Gavin turned to look at Michael. "What are we gonna say to get Ray to come with us to the cabin?" 

Michael sat up with a groan and leaned against Gavin's bed. "We can just ask him to come with us you idiot," He pulled his legs up and leaned his elbows against them, hands pressing against his eyes. "It doesn't have to be a clever plan, you know. Maybe if we just, ya know, ask him like a normal person, he'll come with us. What do you think he's doing over Spring Break anyway?" 

Gavin stood up and flopped down onto Ray's bed. "Well, I guess that's a good point. We still don't tell him that we know that he's not rich, right?" 

"Obviously, you fucktard. Let him tell us on his own," Michael took his hands away and rolled his eyes. He stretched, feeling his bones pop and headed to the door. "I'm gonna go shower and maybe see what Lindsay's doing," Michael shrugged. "Maybe get breakfast or something." He waved as he left.

"Bye, Mi-cool."

\-----

It was five hours later, and Gavin and Michael still appeared to be hungover, much to Ray and Lindsay's amusement. They were sitting in a dorm common room, all the couch and Gavin was almost falling off. 

"So, a bunch of us go down to this Cabin that Geoff owns, and we wondered if you wanted to come with us," Michael said with a hand over his eyes. 

Lindsay's eyes lit up. "You should totally come! It's super fun, and you can even room with Gav and Michael if you want, I'll room with Barbara," 

"Oh, no." Ray started. "You don't have to do that. You can room with your boyfriend," 

"So, you'll go?" Gavin asked, a tired smile pulling at his lips. 

Ray shrugged. "I mean, I guess. I don't have much to do anyway over Spring Break, and I could spend it with you guys. It wouldn't be so bad, I guess," Ray smirked and nudged Gavin with his shoulder. He then turned to Lindsay. "But seriously, you don't have to give up your bed for me, I'll stay in an extra room that no one needs." 

"If you're sure." Lindsay looked at Ray and then turned to Gavin seeing his eyes light up with mischief. She made a note to ask Michael what was going on later. 

"Oh, X-Ray!" Michael shoved Gavin when he shouted, muttering to 'shut the fuck up'. Gavin smiled and situated himself on the couch again. "It'll be great, promise!" He ignored Michael's glare when he shouted again, and pulled out his phone finding the name "Goeff" in his phone and typed out a text. 

**Ray said he'll come to the cabin. Get J-Roll to have a room by himself so they have to room. Make sure, Jack doesn't room with him!!! Plan Joelay is a go!!! :D**

He received a text not long after. 

_The fuck is Joelay? But, good. I'll get Joel a room by himself_

**Goeff! Joel and Ray, Joelay. It totally makes sense**

_Yeah, yeah, whatever you say buddy. Just get you and your friends to the parking lot at the usual time before we leave, got it? You and Michael are riding with me and Jack, tell Ray he's riding with Joel and Miles_

**Will do Goeff!**

Gavin didn't get a response after that so he tucked his phone back into his pocket and joined back in the conversation with the others. 

\-----

Monday in class Geoff let them do whatever they wanted, and most people just sat around and talked to each other. Ray, Gavin, and Dan were no exception. 

"Why aren't you coming to the cabin, Dan?" Ray asked. 

"I go see my family every break, it's no big deal." Dan shrugged and tightened his arms around Gavin who was sitting in his lap. 

Ray could feel eyes following him, but every time he turned to look, he just saw Geoff who was looking at his computer while drinking. 

"Oh, X-Ray," Ray turned back to look at Gavin. "We're meeting all the people in the parking lot tomorrow morning at about six am for the drive there," Ray nodded to show Gavin he was listening. The bell rang and they all stood to leave the classroom, Gavin quickly looking to Ray and said, "You're gonna be driving down with Joel and Miles, I'll see you later!" The Brit turned away quickly and walked down the hallway with Dan leaving Ray with a confused face. 

"But, oh, fuck you." Ray had no reason to be mad at Gavin, he was sure it wasn't Gavin's fault that he was driving down with Joel, Gavin and Michael didn't even know that he liked Joel. Besides, he would probably just sleep the whole ride there anyway. Ray shrugged to himself and walked the other way to his next class. The trip would be fun, and his mom was always telling him he should spend more time outside and make some friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not the longest again, sorry. But hope you enjoy it anyway, leave a comment telling me what I did right or wrong!


	8. Road Trip

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The road trip to the cabin leads to interesting happenings.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: for attempted rape, kinda. And also self harming, minor though.
> 
> Sorry it's kinda late...it's longer though, so I hope it's okay!

"It's time to wake up, Sunshine!" A person, more specifically, Geoff, shouted while looking down at a sleeping Joel. The latter shot up and waved his arm toward the offending noise. "Jesus Christ, Joel, don't kill me!" Geoff flailed out of the way. 

Joel brought his arm back in and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. "The fuck, Geoff?" He blearily looked out towards the window. "The damn sun isn't even up yet," 

"Well, with your sunshiney face awake, the sun has no choice but to come up and shine it's golden rays upon us all." Geoff laughed as a pillow was thrown in his direction. "Just get your ass up, Joel. We're leaving in an hour," He opened the door to their room and walked out. "Oh, by the way, you're driving Miles and Ray, see ya in an hour." 

"Goddamit, Geoff."

\-----

An hour later and Ray, Gavin, Michael, and Lindsay were walking down to the parking lot, bags swung over their shoulders, except for Lindsay because Michael had  _insisted_ that he carry her bag despite her protests. 

"You just want to get laid, Michael." 

"Shut the fuck up, Ray." 

When they had reached the parking lot, they saw Geoff and Joel leaned up against one car, Joel staring down into a cup of coffee while Geoff just talked animatedly. Ray's stomach flipped and he, once again, silently cursed Gavin for having him ride with Joel. Another pair of people came sauntering over, both in jeans and t shirts, carrying two trays of drinks between the two of them. 

"Hey, Miles," Geoff nodded to the taller guy with facial hair and hair stuck up in different directions, almost as ruffled as Joel's. "Hi, Kerry." Kerry, the shorter one with blonder hair waved weakly in greeting. 

"Goeff!" Gavin squawked and jumped on Geoff's back, causing everyone except Geoff to flinch. 

"Gavin. Off." Gavin slid ungracefully off of Geoff as Michael shook his head and Lindsay and Ray laughed. 

Well, the moths seemed to be back, and they didn't seem like they were going away anytime soon. Ray sighed, and ran a hand through his hair. He might as well awkwardly say hi again and hope he doesn't throw up or fucking fall into him again. 

Gavin and Geoff were loading a car, and Gavin nudged the other with an elbow and pointed to someone. Ray looked over to where Gavin was pointing to see a girl coming over with a duffel bag in her hand, her blonde hair in low pigtails wearing jeans and an over sized jean jacket. 

"Morning, Griffon!" Gavin chirped. She lazily saluted him and ruffled his hair. Ray wondered how Gavin was so cheery in the morning. 

"Hey, Griff," Geoff drawled and leaned in for a kiss. She rolled her eyes and shoved her bag into his arms instead. 

"You get a kiss when we're in the car after I've slept more, Mr. We Need To Leave At The Ass Crack Of Dawn." 

"Ow, okay, okay." Geoff grumbled and the rest of the people laughed as they watched the exchange. 

Michael leaned towards Ray and mumbled, "That's Griffon. She's with Geoff. She's super badass and carves wood with a chainsaw." Ray's eyes widened and he nodded. "Aren't you gonna go say hi to Joel? He's driving you, isn't he?" Michael smirked as Ray's face flushed a little. 

"Uh, y-yeah, I'll go over." Ray stuttered. Fucking Michael and Gavin, being all mysterious. Ray nervously walked over to Joel who was still leaning against, what Ray assumed, was his car. 

"Hey," Ray muttered, rather lamely, and half waved toward the older man. 

Joel looked away from his coffee and looked down at Ray. He raised an eyebrow and his eyes flicked up and down Ray's body. Ray awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck as he felt his face flush further. "Well hey there, stranger," Joel's voice sounded gravelly, and it wasn't helping Ray's face flush any less. 

"Uh, hi, you're driving me and Miles, right?" Joel nodded slowly, taking a gulp of his coffee. 

"Oh, uh, actually," Ray turned around to see Miles standing there with Kerry, looking apologetic. "I managed to get a car within the past year, so I'm gonna drive Kerry down. But you guys shouldn't miss me too much." Miles smiled nervously, with too many teeth, and walked off, Kerry following after handing Ray a cup of coffee. Ray nodded his thanks and took a sip as he watched them walk away. 

"Well," Ray turned back to Joel. "Look's like it's just you and me, kid." 

Great. 

\-----

"Oh my God, Joel, we've been driving for like, ever," Ray whined as he slouched further into his seat. 

Joel huffed. " _I've_ been driving for about half an hour, it's another three before we get there, kid." Joel rolled his eyes as he heard Ray groan. "If you want, you could, you know, actually tell me your name so I don't have to keep calling you 'kid',"  _Or Bright Eyes,_ his brain supplied.  _  
_

"Why?" Ray smiled as he saw Joel's eye twitch.

"I don't know," Ray sighed, exasperated. "Maybe because you know  _my_ name, and that doesn't sound very fair, does it." He rolled his eyes over to look at Ray as the car stopped at a red light. "Didn't your mom ever tell you it's not nice to keep secrets? Especially from people who are driving your ass somewhere?"

Ray laughed. "If you know my name, then it wouldn't be very fun, would it?"

"I swear to God, kid, I will drive off this highway into that ravine if you don't tell me your name." 

"Fiiiiiiineee," Ray sighed. "My name is Ray, happy now?" 

"Yes. Yes I am," Joel smiled smugly.

"Asshole," Ray muttered, though he was smiling too. "If..if you don't mind, can we stop at the next gas station we see?" 

"Uh, yeah, sure. Could I ask why?"

Ray shrugged. "I just wanna buy food..." Joel raised an eyebrow. "Okay, I wanna buy a slurpie. Please?" 

Joel shifted in his seat as his stomach flipped when he heard Ray say 'please'. Well, who was he to deny that? Especially when Ray asked so prettily? "Yeah, sure. I need to buy some cigarettes too. Is it okay if I smoke?" 

"Eh, I don't really mind. Open a window though?" 

"Of course." 

\-----

An hour and a half later, Joel pulled into a parking lot of a 7-11. He parked the car and looked over to where Ray was curled up in his seat, head leaning against the window. Joel didn't really want to wake him up...he looked pretty adorable sleeping and everything. Joel shook his head and ran a hand through his hair. This kid was sixteen. He was seven years older than Ray. Even if Joel showed him some affection, the kid would probably be freaked out. 

"Hey, hey, Ray," Joel mumbled and laughed a little as Ray woke up too quickly and managed to bang his head against the window he was leaning against. 

"Goddammit, Joel," Ray fixed his glasses and rubbed his head. "What the hell?" 

"We're at a gas station, you want your slurpie or not?" 

Ray nodded and stretched out, catching a look of himself in the mirror as he got of the car. He frowned as he tried to flatten the parts of his hair that were sticking up. A hand smacked his, and he lowered his arm down, looking quizzically at Joel. "Leave it. It's cute," Joel flushed as he realized what he said. He mumbled something out that sounded vaguely like an apology. He peaked a glance over at Ray and found the younger boy frozen with a flush creeping up his neck. Interesting. 

They walked in silence into the 7-11 and Ray immediately went to the back where they kept the slurpie machine. Joel chuckled as he watched Ray scurry off. He nodded toward the cashier who rolled his eyes. Fucking teenagers who thought they were adults. Joel rolled his eyes as he made his way to the back toward the bathroom.

When Joel walked out, he looked around for Ray. He walked over to the slurpie machine while pulling out his phone and checking the time. It was just after eight, and he was happy to see he had no annoying text from Geoff or Jack telling him to hurry up. When he got to the slurpie machine, he looked up, expecting to see Ray standing there. He instead saw a slurpie cup that was laying on its side, blue ice slush falling to the floor. 

Joel furrowed his eyebrows. "Ray?" When he got no response, he cursed under his breath and walked around to the front of the store, ready to ask the cashier if he knew where Ray went. Joel's frown deepened when he didn't see the cashier. "Ray? Where the fuck are you?" Joel ran a hand through his hair when he received no response again. 

"Stop!" Joel turned his head sharply when he heard the voice of Ray. He ran out the door, the bell slamming harshly against the glass of the door. 

"Ray?!" Joel shouted, looking back and forth. 

"Joel?! Help me!" Joel turned toward the voice and he jogged over to the left side of the building. 

"What the fuck are you doing?!" Joel shouted when he saw the cashier holding Ray up against the wall. The cashier looked at Joel and smirked.

"Is this your boyfriend?" The cashier sneered, and stroked a hand down Ray's face and throat. The Puerto Rican flinched away from the touch. 

Joel ran forward and slammed the cashier away from Ray. He gripped the cashier's shirt and slammed him against the wall. "So what if he is?" Joel growled and slammed the kid into the brick. "I don't like people touching what's mine." He pulled the cashier out off of the wall and pushed him back in the direction of the entrance. "Get the fuck out of here, you fucking asshole." The cashier's eyes widened and he ran back inside of the store, Joel sighing in relief when he heard the bell ring. 

He walked over to Ray who was still leaning against the wall, breathing rapidly. "Hey, Ray?" Joel asked softly, and Ray's head snapped over to Joel. He blinked twice and started to collapse, Joel rushing forward to catch him. "Hey, you're fine," Joel held Ray as he felt the younger's shoulders shake.

"I thought he was gonna rape me, Joel," Ray gasped for breath as he looked up at Joel. "I was so scared." Ray whispered. Joel shushed him and pulled Ray's head into his chest. 

"You're okay, Ray. I wouldn't have let him. You're fine." Joel wasn't the best at comforting people normally, but when it came to anxiety attacks, well, he had more than enough experience there. 

Joel managed to get Ray back to his car and tried to get Ray into the passenger seat. The younger wouldn't let go of Joel though, starting to cry harder, and Joel instead managed to get him into the backseat with the promise that he would be right back. He walked back into the store and saw the cashier at the front, a scared expression when he saw Joel walk through. He walked past the front to the back, grabbing a large cup and filling it with blue slush. When he walked back to the front, reached forward and grabbed a pack of cigarettes. He said nothing to the boy, just walked out back to his car.

\-----

Ray wasn't sure what he was supposed to feel, but it seemed like moths were an understatement when it came to the things that were clawing in his stomach. He couldn't stop shaking, and he wasn't sure if he was still crying or not. His whole face seemed wet and he wanted to scream. Why wasn't Joel back? Ray's breathing started to quicken again and he put his hands over his face, ripping his glasses off. He clawed at his jaw and his throat, his right hand coming down to claw at his left arm.

He couldn't hear anything except for his heavy breathing and his pounding heart, and he nearly screamed when there was a knock on the window. He looked up and squinted to see the blurry outline of Joel's face. He reached a shaky hand out to unlock the door. 

Joel climbed in as Ray scooted over to give Joel more room. "Hey," Joel whispered. He closed the door and locked it and Ray let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. Joel set the slurpie and cigarettes on the arm rest between the front seats. "What'd you do?" Joel kept his voice low. He gently grabbed Ray's arm and looked at the bloody scratches that were there. 

Ray tried to pull his arm back, but Joel tightened his hold on his wrist. "I-it's nothing," Ray whispered. 

"Ray," Joel looked at Ray'a face. "Don't do this," Joel kept his voice low as he reached in his pocket and pulled out some tissues. "Don't worry," Joel laughed a little. "The're not used," Ray huffed a laugh and wiped his face with his other hand. He winced as Joel gently wiped away the blood that was on Ray's arm. "We'll wash this properly later, okay?" 

Ray nodded and pulled his arm back to his chest. Joel sighed slightly and reached over grabbing the slurpie and holding it out to Ray, smiling encouragingly. Ray laughed through his tears and grabbed the drink. "Is this why you went back in?" 

Joel nodded, while pocketing his cigarettes. "Didn't even pay," Joel smiled and Ray laughed a little again. "You're okay now, Ray. I promise," Ray's smile faded, and he set the slurpie back down. 

"Thanks, Joel," Ray whispered and he looked down. Joel saw something glint from the floor and reached down to get Ray's glasses off the floor. 

"Hey," Joel whispered and Ray looked up. Joel slipped Ray's glasses back onto his face, and Ray blinked slightly, looking up at Joel. 

"Joel?" Ray whispered, the word coming out almost like a breath. Joel didn't say anything, he just leaned forward, eyes flicking between Ray's eyes and lips. 

"Tell me to stop," Joel whispered, still leaning forward. Ray shook his head, and leaned up, connecting their lips. Joel's eyes widened before closing, his hands coming up to grab Ray's face between his hands. 

Ray pulled away when his lungs burned for air, and he gasped as Joel continued to kiss down his jaw to his neck. "Jesus, Joel," Ray breathed. He felt Joel nip his neck and smirk when Ray shuddered. "Hey, hey, Joel," Ray fisted his hands into Joel's hair and pulled him back up, crushing their lips together again. Ray climbed into Joel's lap, pushing him against the back of the seat. 

"Mmph," Joel gripped onto Ray's hips with his hands, fingers digging in and making Ray's breath hitch. Ray ground his hips down onto Joel's, whose fingers dug in deeper, leaving bruises and stopping Ray from grounding down again. "Hey," Joel wrapped one long arm around Ray's waist to keep him still, while his other hand came up to grab onto Ray's hair, pulling him back to look at him. "You wanna do this in a car? Or in a cabin bed?" Ray's pupils were blown and he nodded, whining when he tried and failed to get more friction. 

"C'mon, Joel. Please?" Ray whimpered out. Joel took a second to look at Ray's flushed face and blown out pupils. He bit his lip and when he heard Ray whimper out his name, all control left his brain. 

"You want it that bad?" Joel chuckled darkly when Ray nodded as best he could with a hand still in his hair. 

"Please, Joel," Ray tried to lean in to kiss at Joel. Joel tutted and twisted the hand in the younger's hair. 

Joel leaned forward until their lips were brushing against each other. "We do this, you gotta know who's in charge, babe," Joel whispered. "You understand?" 

"Yes, yes. Please, Joel," Ray whispered, eyes clenching shut. Joel smirked and pressed their lips together, biting down onto Ray's bottom lip, drawing another whimper from the boy. Ray pulled away, and shivered as Joel ran his hand from his hair down his back, both hands coming together around Ray's waist, helping him into a rocking motion. 

"C'mon, baby. You want it?" Joel murmured and Ray nodded his hand frantically. "Then you gotta work for it, Ray. Don't be lazy, now," Ray could've screamed in frustration. Jesus Christ, he just needed to get off. 

Ray wrapped his arms around Joel's neck as he started rocking harder against the older man's lap. Sparks of pleasure shot up Ray's spine, and the monsters that were crawling in Ray's stomach turned into fireflies that were lighting up and zipping around his faster than he thought possible. He never felt this good when would jack off by himself, and now he was practically melting into Joel. 

Joel's voice snapped him out of his head. "You want some help?" Ray opened his eyes and saw Joel's smug face and he wanted to smack it off. 

"I swear to God, Joel-" Ray's sentence was cut off by a ragged moan that tore itself out of his throat when Joel reached a hand to palm his cock through his clothes. 

"What was that?" Joel asked, in that same smug sounding voice. Ray was gasping for breath and Joel palmed him harder. Ray pushed his head onto Joel's shoulder and bit the material he found there. Joel felt the tug on his shirt and chuckled. He took away his hand from Ray's pants and tugged his hair to being his head up. "No, no," Joel shook his head. "Don't hide all those pretty noises from me. That's not very nice," Joel's eyes narrowed. 

"I-I'm sorry," Ray keened. "Joel, please. I'm so c-close. Oh my God, Joel," Ray felt like he couldn't get enough air into his lungs. 

"You're close, baby?" Ray nodded and latched onto Joel's neck. "Go on, Ray," Joel whispered into Ray's ear. "Cum for me." 

Ray shuddered and almost screamed into Joel's neck as his cock pulsed inside his boxers and he felt his cum soak into his boxers. Joel kept Ray's hips rocking, helping him ride out his orgasm. Ray's eyes clenched shut and he whimpered one last time before collapsing onto Joel. Ray's eyelids felt heavy, and he started to fall asleep as his breathing started to calm down. 

"Such a good boy." Ray heard Joel whisper into his hair before he gave into sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soo....I've never written any kind of smut before in my life, and I only really have videos and other fanfics for reference and advice, heh...Uh, so, if anyone wanted to give me advice, that would be amazing. :D


	9. Presenting Ramsey Cabin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to the cabin

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Saturday! Here's a chapter!

Arriving at Geoff's cabin was much more complicated than Joel would like to admit. Apart from the fact that Ray  _still_ hadn't woken up and Joel had to carry him, Joel had felt bad that Ray had a, ahem, stain that wasn't easily missed. He had the perfect solution though, just drape his oversized hoodie on the younger boy like a blanket. He had thought that no one would ask questions, that they would assume Joel was just being a good person and maybe snicker while he walked by. He didn't expect a bombarding of questions as to why he was carrying the Puerto Rican, and Jesus Christ he was going to punch Gavin in the throat before the week was over. 

After escaping the assholes Joel calls his friends, he found the room that was  _supposed_ to be his and Jack's but oh no, Jack had wanted to share with his new girlfriend and Geoff was all for exchanging Ray's room for Jack and Caiti, which left Joel with a new roommate. 

He sighed and set Ray down one of the beds as gently as he could. He ended up more like dropping him, but the kid didn't wake up, so Joel counted that as a win. Running a hand through his hair he left the room and went out to his car so he could get their luggage.  _Having friends is too complicated,_ he thought,  _maybe I should just never leave my house ever._  

"Yo, Heyman!" Joel turned to see Geoff jogging to catch up with him. He slowed his pace so that his friend could reach him. 

"What?" Okay, so maybe that came out sharper than Joel intended, but Geoff had switched his roommate out without even asking, so he deserved to be snapped at. Yeah, it didn't make much sense in Joel's head either. 

"Whoa there, Mr. Upset At Geoff," Geoff chuckled as Joel grunted. They continued to walk to Joel's car. "I seriously am sorry dude, ya know," Geoff stuck his hands in his jean pockets. "about switching Jack's room. But you know what he would have been like if I didn't. He would've just kept complaining and then the trip wouldn't be fun for anyone," 

Joel rolled his eyes as he lugged a duffel bag over his shoulder. "It's fine, dude. Seriously. A little heads up would've been nice, but it could've been worse. I could've been stuck with Gavin," Geoff laughed, making Joel smile. 

They were silent as they walked back to the cabin together. Joel broke the silence. "So, something may have happened on the way over here," 

Geoff raised an eyebrow. "So all the cat calls and whistles Michael and Gav threw you were correct?"

"No," Joel shook his head. "I mean, kind of. It was weird." 

"Well go on then, spill,"

Joel sighed. "We were stopped at a gas station and I went to take a piss and when I came back out Ray was being held up against the wall outside by the cashier. I don't think the cashier was gonna do anything, but Ray was more than freaked out about it. I left him in the car and went back to get him a slurpie and when I came back his glasses were on the floor of the car and he was scratching at his arm," Joel rubbed a hand over his face and dropped the bags down outside of the room. 

"Is he okay? Did he hurt himself?" Geoff's eyebrows furrowed and Joel could see "Father Geoff" coming out. 

"He's, he's fine. He was bleeding though. And he looked like he wanted to scratch me when I grabbed his arm to stop him. It was like he didn't remember where he was or something," Joel's head hit the wall with a 'thunk'. 

"What happened after that?" 

"He," Joel scratched his head. "Well I put his glasses back on and I leaned forward," He pushed the heels of his hands into his eyes. "I told him to tell me to stop. I would've stopped Geoff, I swear. He didn't though and we kissed and it went further than that and he didn't seem to be complaining and I wasn't either. I got him off," He looked at Geoff and inwardly groaned at the look he saw. "I didn't make him get me off or anything Geoff, and then after he just fell asleep, so I let him sleep. Oh God, please don't hate me," 

"I don't hate you, you idiot." Geoff punched Joel's shoulder lightly. "But, you definitely should talk to him when he wakes up. I'm pretty sure he has a crush on you and it's pretty obvious you like him too. I know your brain will pick apart the relationship and tell you why it's a bad idea, but try not to think too  hard about it, okay?" Joel nodded. "Who knows," Geoff started to walk away, hands still shoved in his pockets. "maybe the relationship would actually do you some good." 

Joel scoffed as he watched Geoff walk back over to where everyone was hanging around. As if the relationship would do him good. No relationship has ever done him good. Joel scoffed again and picked up the bags and walked into the room. He startled a little as he noticed that Ray was awake and sitting up, almost like he was waiting for Joel to come back. 

"Oh, uh, hey," Joel said lamely and dropped the bags down between the two beds in the room. "You sleep okay?" Ray nodded mutely and opened his mouth to say something, but quickly closed it and nodded again."Do you want to talk about it?" Joel asked. He was really hoping to maybe have a few hours to think about what he was going to say...he wasn't expecting the talk to come this quickly. 

Ray nodded again. "Uh," Ray cleared his throat. "Thanks, again, for...ya know," Ray waved his hand dismissively. 

"Oh, yeah. No problem. It would have been pretty shitty if I didn't do anything, ya know?" Joel awkwardly scratched the back of his neck. 

"Thanks for bringing my bag too. I'm pretty sure my underwear's ruined," Ray nervously chuckled a bit, and Joel's face flushed. 

"Yeah, about that," Joel began. "You...wanted that, right? Because I can't help but think that I too advantage of you, and I really didn't mean to, you were just there, and I didn't really think about it, and I mean, it was great, and you're beautifu-" Joel cut himself off with a cough. 

Ray was blushing, but nodding. "You, you didn't take advantage of me. Don't worry. What happens now though?" 

Well, jeez, that was a pretty blunt question. Joel blinked. "What," he licked his lips. "what do you want to happen?" Leave it up to Ray. That was a good idea. He inwardly praised his brain, and then shook his head when he realized he was praising himself. 

"I mean," Ray tucked his legs to his chest. "I like you, and I think you're really cute, but I don't want to make you feel awkward or like you have to date me out of pity or anything," Ray shrugged and turned his head to look away. 

Joel walked over to the bed and sat down next to Ray. "Look, kid. You're adorable," Ray braced himself for the rejection he was bound to get. "and I'm not great at this kind of thing, or relationships in general," Joel awkwardly put a hand on Ray's shoulder. "But, if you're willing to try it, so am I," 

Ray blinked up at Joel, and a slow smile crept onto his face. "Yeah." 

Joel let out a breath he didn't know he was holding and smiled. He kissed Ray's head and stood up. "I'm gonna go see if Geoff needs any help with the food, and knowing him he probably will. I'll let you change, and meet everyone there." Joel smiled at Ray once more before leaving the room. He felt like a lovesick teenager again. The last time he felt like this over someone was when he knew Jackson, but he tried to forget about him. 

\-----

Ray grinned and walked out of the room. He walked over to where everyone was and yelped as Gavin ran into him. 

"X-Ray! You're awake!" Gavin laughed as Ray pushed him off. 

"Yeah, Vav, Jesus Christ, for someone who looks like a twig you can sure tackle someone. 

"You're one to talk," Gavin laughed and stuck his tongue out when Ray went to shove him. 

"Whoa, whoa, watch out for the lady guys, Jesus," They both turned to see Griffon standing there, with her hands on her hips, smiling. 

"Sorry, Griff!" Gavin shouted and then turned to Ray. "This is Ray. He's my new roommate," Gavin grinned. "That's Griffon. She's Geoff's girlfriend," Gavin grinned and pointed to Griffon. 

Griffon held a hand out and Ray shook it. "Nice to meet you, Ray." Ray nodded in agreement and smiled as Griffon walked away. 

"I think I kinda met her earlier. Good to see actually meet her though," Gavin nodded with Ray and they chatted and walked over to the table where Michael was sitting with Lindsay and another blonde. 

"Yo, Ray you're awake," Michael grinned and moved over so Ray and Gavin could sit down. "You were konked out for like two hours, dude," 

Ray's eyes widened. "I was asleep for that long?" 

They all  nodded. "You kinda looked like a cat," Lindsay piped up. 

"I guess you could say he was taking a  _catnap,_ " The blonde girl said and the group let out a groan. 

"That's Barbara, she makes puns. We all hate her," Michael introduced them. Ray waved to Barbara who smiled and waved back. 

"So?" Gavin nudged Ray. "What's going on with you and J-Roll?"

"Oh, uh, I guess we're kind of dating," Ray pushed his glasses up nervously. 

"You're dating  _the_ Joel Heyman?" Barbara gasped and giggled. "He's like the dreamiest guy!" 

Michael nodded. "I'm not gay, but I would go gay for him," Michael quickly added. "Not that I ever would though!" When Lindsay shot him a glare. 

"He's pretty cute," Gavin laughed. 

"Who's pretty cute?" Joel asked and Ray squeaked in surprise. 

"Your face," Gavin said and they all laughed except for Joel who narrowed his eyes at the Brit. 

"Well my face thanks you," Yeah, Joel wanted to punch Gavin a lot, but he was a lovable idiot. "Mind if I sit? Geoff finally figured out how to turn the grill on." They all nodded and Ray shifted so the older man could sit. Joel draped an arm over Ray's shoulders, who blushed furiously while everyone else 'awwed'. Ray smiled inwardly though as the group of friends continued to talk about everything and anything. 

Joel pulled Ray closer to him when the Puerto Rican shivered, and Ray happily melted against the warmer male. Maybe it was a good thing after all that Ray went along with the trip. Even though he did almost get raped. Ray felt a shiver shoot down his spine when he thought about it. 

"You alright, Ray?" Ray glanced over at Gavin and nodded.

"I need to talk to you and Michael later, okay?" Ray said quietly, and Gavin nodded with a concerned look on his face. Ray wasn't really looking forward to telling his friends what had happened. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked it! Reviews are always nice ^.^


	10. Jackson (The Former)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So...who exactly is Jackson?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy late Fourth of July to people in America! And happy Saturday to everyone!  
> I think this chapter is slightly shorter, though I'm not sure. I hope you like it thought! :D

The day went by without any more implications on Ray's part, except for the glance Michael and Gavin kept sending his way every ten minutes. Really though, it's not as if Ray had gotten killed...well it was kind of like that, actually, and Ray had a feeling that Michael wan't going to be too happy with the guy that had almost raped his friend. But it's not like Michael could do anything about it now. It happened, but it was over, and hopefully they wouldn't coddle Ray to death...he had a feeling that Joel was going to do that anyway. 

"It's really not even that bad, though," Ray had been trying to convince himself, and Joel that he didn't need to tell anyone else what had happened. "Like, it's not like they can do anything now about it, and I really just don't want anyone to know. It's bad enough that it even happened..." Ray's voice trailed off into a whisper towards the end. 

Joel used a hand to tilt Ray's chin up so he was looking at the older man. "Look, Ray," Joel began and then sighed. "I can't tell you that you need to tell them or not, because it's not my decision, but I do think it would be best if you did tell them. They're your friends, and yeah, they'll worry, but they'll be worrying for the right reasons. They won't think any less of you or think you're weak or a bad person for it happening. Trust me, they'll worry but they'll understand. Trust me," Joel leaned it and kissed Ray's forehead and smiled when he heard Ray sigh. 

"Yes, fine, fine, I'll tell them," Ray grumbled and looked up at Joel with a pout on his face. 

Joel chuckled and placed a kiss on Ray's pouting lips making them turn to a smile. "You'll be fine, okay?" Ray nodded in agreement and fixed his glasses before turning to head out of the room to find Gavin and Michael. 

He turned around before reaching the door, "I'm expecting hot chocolate when I get back, just heads up." Joel groaned and Ray smiled before turning to leave. 

He shut the door and nearly screamed when he saw Kerry standing outside. "Jesus fuck, Kerry," Ray gasped and punched Kerry in the arm. 

"Sorry, Ray, I didn't mean to scare you," Kerry rubbed the back of his neck. "I thin Gav and Michael are looking for you though. They're outside with the others around the fire." 

"Yeah, I figured. I'll go find them. Thanks!" Ray turned to walk away, but Kerry's hand on his arm stopped him. "What's up, Kerry?" Ray's brow furrowed slightly. 

"Look, everyone here is happy that you and Joel are together and everything, and people are more happy that Joel is acting like less of a dick with you around, but, we all want you to be careful," 

Ray cocked his head slightly. "Careful? Why?" 

Kerry sighed and let go of Ray's arm. "Because once upon a time Joel had this relationship with a guy named Jackson and he acted so in love and everything, and then things went wrong and Joel did some things he shouldn't have because he's always paranoid." Looking at Ray's shocked face he added, "I'm also not the best person to talk to about this. Ask Geoff or Jack about it. They know more anyway." He scratched the back of his head again. "What I'm trying to say is, just be careful." Kerry nodded to himself and then walked off leaving Ray confused. 

Furrowing his brow again, Ray walked out to the fire where everyone was. He pasted on a smile when he got closer and stood behind Michael and Gavin. Everyone was laughing and smiling, telling stories about idiotic things that have happened, mostly including Gavin, and Ray felt bad that he was about to disrupt it. 

He cleared his throat. "Hey, Michael and Gavin?" They both turned to look at him, though Gavin seemed to jump. 

"Ray! We've been looking for you!" Gavin shouted and unsteadily stood up and hugged the Puerto Rican. 

"Ah, yeah, I know. Kerry told me...But he didn't tell me you guys were drunk," Ray laughed a little. 

"Nah, only Gavvers' here is drunk.  _Someone_ needs to be the responsible one," Michael laughed as Gavin flipped him off. 

"Really?" Ray laughed too. "I don't see Lindsay anywhere, and I know you don't mean _you're_ the responsible one," 

"Jerk off," Michael mumbled. 

"Uh, could I talk to you guys?" 

"Yeah, is this about earlier?" Michael asked as he stood up and wiped his jeans. He grabbed Gavin by his arm and lugged him away with Ray. 

"Yeah, kinda, something happened on the way here," They all sat down in the grass when they were a considerably long way from the fire and the other people. 

"Well what happened?" Michael asked. He adjusted his beanie and snickered when Gavin decided to lay down in the grass. "Just ignore him, I'll tell him tomorrow when he's sober again if you don't want to say it twice," 

"Um, yeah, thanks," Ray ran a hand through his hair and tried to think of a place to start. "So you know how I was the only one riding with Joel on the way here?" Michael nodded. "Well on our way here we stopped at a gas station because I wanted a slurpie and I think Joel went to the bathroom and when he did I was filling up the cup and the cashier guy came over to me and asked if my glasses tinted in the sun," 

"Why did he ask that?" Michael was ripping up the grass at his legs. 

"Well because he said that he wanted to know what kind of glasses I had since mine to tint. He asked to see so we went outside where it was sunny so they would tint," Ray took a deep breath. "And when we were outside he walked me over to the side of the building and, well he," Ray coughed slightly and could feel tears at his eyes that he tried to blink back. "He tried to rape me." Ray whispered the last part so quietly he was surprised Michael heard him at all. 

There was just silence, and so Ray looked up to Michael who was staring back with wide eyes. "Are you okay?" He asked quietly, almost as if, if he spoke too loudly everyone would hear. 

Ray nodded. "I'm fine. He didn't, uh, rape me. I yelled for help and Joel came running outside and stopped him before anything happened." Ray saw Michael nod numbly. 

"So, how did you and Joel end up together from that then?" Ray flushed and Michael raised an eyebrow. 

"Well, things happened, and uh," Ray coughed awkwardly. "He was there and he made a move first and I couldn't say no to him," 

"So you guys  _totally_ did the sex!" Gavin squawked from where he was and bolted up so he was sitting. 

Ray flushed further and tried to splutter out an explanation. "N-No! We didn't have sex," Ray hissed towards Gavin who shook with laughter and promptly fell over onto the grass again. "Michael, seriously, though!" Ray hissed again when Michael started snickering. "We really didn't have sex! We did, uh, stuff, but we didn't actually do that!" Michael full out started laughing at Ray huffed as he glared at his friends. 

When Michael calmed down he looked at Ray with a seriousness that the Puerto RIcan's never seen before on his friend. "I'm not gonna ask all these questions about what happened because I don't know if you even want to answer them, okay? I trust that Joel will take care of you in ways that I'd rather not," Michael chuckled. "But I'm happy that you told me, and don't worry about Gavin, I'll tell him so you don't have to tell the story again,' Michael smiled a little. "Thanks for telling me though, man." Michael patted Ray on the shoulder, and Ray smiled back. 

"Oh, I have a question too," Michael nodded at Ray to continue. "When I was coming out here, Kerry stopped me and told me that Joel was in a relationship with someone else, Justin? No, Jackson!-and I guess Joel did something that he shouldn't have done because he was paranoid, but he wouldn't tell me anything else after that," Ray ripped the grass around his legs. "Do you know what happened?" 

"Oh, uh, yeah. Kind of. I mean I know who Jackson is and everything, but I'm not entirely sure what happened. Geoff or Jack would know," 

Ray nodded. "Yeah, that's what Kerry said too...Would Gavin know?" 

"Oh yeah, probably. Him and Geoff are pretty close, he see's the stupid idiot like a son almost. You can ask him tomorrow about it." Ray nodded in agreement and they both turned over to where Gavin was laying in the grass grumbling something about giant sheep and giant pigs facing each other in a staring contest. Michael turned back to Ray. "Though, maybe he won't even remember." They both laughed. "Are you gonna come with us back to the fire? I heard Barbara brought marshmallows." 

Ray stood up with Michael and they bother dragged Gavin back to his feet. "Nah, I told Joel I'd go back to spend time with him. And I made him promise that he would make me hot chocolate. So, I better not keep him waiting." Michael laughed and nodded and waved goodbye and led Gavin back to the fire. 

Ray waved back and then sighed and put his hands in his pockets as he made his way back to the room he was sharing with Joel. He wanted to know what had happened between him and Jackson, but at the same time he didn't know if he should know because what if it makes him paranoid? Ray sighed to himself and shook his head. Joel would tell him when he was ready if it was important...right? Maybe he should just ask Joel. 

When he made his way back to the room, he opened the door. "Hey, Joel? Wh-" Ray cut himself off when he saw Joel standing there with a giant mug of what he assumed was hot chocolate, hair askew, more than usual, with a small smile on his face when he saw Ray enter the door. 

"Hey, so, I kinda went overboard with the hot chocolate, but I assumed the bigger the better, right?" Joel laughed a little and gestured for Ray to sit next to him on the bed. 

"You're such an idiot," Ray laughed and sat down next to the older man and grabbed the mug out of his hands. He smiled as he sipped it, enjoying the chocolateness of it and the warmth of it. "Thanks though," Ray smiled into the mug as Joel wrapped an arm around the smaller man and kissed him on the head. 

"You're welcome. I was worried that it was gonna get cold before you got here," Joel laughed a little. 

Ray shook his head. "It's perfect, Joel. You're the best," Ray smiled up at Joel and scrunched his eyes closed. Joel leaned down and gave him a kiss. 

"I know I'm the best. But I'm also really tired so, if you want you can go hang with the others, I'm gonna sleep though." Ray laughed as Joel yawned. 

"I'll stay here with you so you don't get lonely," Ray smiled and ran a hand through his hair. 

"Aw, you're the best, babe," Joel gave him another kiss and rolled away and started to strip. Ray flushed at the pet name and then flushed more when Joel took his shirt off. He quickly looked away and sipped his drink. Joel looked over to him. "Are you just gonna sleep in your clothes? Or...?" Joel laughed a little when Ray chocked on his hot chocolate. "Well, don't die, love." 

Ray continued to blush, Joel not doing anything to help the situation, but stood up and set the drink onto the nightstand and started to change. He grabbed his sweat pants from out of his duffel bag and quickly changed before turning back to face Joel who was stood there, openly staring at Ray. 

"Be more of a creep, Joel," Ray laughed and then climbed into the bed with a laughing Joel. 

"Oh, why do you hurt me so?" Joel gasped and held a hand to his chest in mock hurt and Ray slapped him on the arm.

"You're a jerk off, you know that?" Joel laughed at Ray and ruffled his hair. 

"And you're adorable, Ray." Ray smiled at Joel and they drank the hot chocolate and talked about life and about school and really about nothing. Ray was happy though for the first time in his life, and whoever Jackson is left Ray's mind.

\-----

There was a noise from next to Ray and he jumped to consciousness and fumbled blindly for his glasses. He slipped them on and groped for his phone, squinting when the light from it almost blinded him. He opened his phone and looked at the number. 

 _Unknown Number_  

Ray frowned a little, but assumed maybe the person just texted the wrong number. He opened the message. 

_Stay away from Joel._

Ray frowned a little and tapped out a reply. 

 **Who is this?**  

The response was almost immediate. 

_Jackson._

**I think you have the wrong number.**

_Stay away from Joel, Ray._

Ray swallowed hard and shut his phone off. He took his glasses off and rolled over and stared at Joel's sleeping voice. 

Well. Shit.

 


	11. Easy//Lucky//Free

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's a snake in Geoff's boot, er room, and Gavin shit his pants?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "My twitching muscles tease my flippant thoughts"

Needless to say, Ray didn't really get anymore sleep that night. He closed his eyes when he heard Joel groan, and tried to even his breath out to make it look like he was sleeping when he heard Joel roll out of bed. He didn't need Joel to be worried about him. He could handle whoever this Jackson guy was. 

He managed to get about one or two hours of sleep until he heard Michael and Gavin burst into the room completely jumping on the Puerto Rican, shaking him awake. 

"Wake up you, donut!" Gavin screeched, and Ray blearily reached over for his glasses. "It's like, two in the afternoon and there's food!" Gavin continued to ramble on about nothing and everything with Michael running a steady commentary on all the things the Brit was saying. 

"Yeah, yeah. I'll come outside in a minute. Get the hell out of my room so I can change." Michael and Gavin both mumbled out apologies and left the room with a warning that if Ray wasn't outside in five minutes, they were going to come back with Joel. 

Way sighed when the door closed and rubbed his eyes under his glasses, and thought about the text he had received hours ago. He groaned and rolled out of bed, trying to stay awake and stumbled to his duffel bag and grabbed the first items of clothing he touched. He got dressed, almost falling over a couple of times trying to put his shorts on, and finally stalked out of the room. 

He could hear everyone talking and laughing, and more specifically, Gavin squawking, and he plastered on a smile when he was in range of them. Joel was the first one to spot him and he walked over and wrapped an arm around Ray, who melted against his side. 

"Well hey there, Sleepy. Sorry I wasn't there, I didn't wanna wake you," Joel apologized and Ray looked up, asking for a kiss. Joel bent down to kiss the smaller man, and rolled his eyes when he heard Barbara whistle at them. 

"It's okay," Ray said quietly and leaned further into Joel as they walked over to the table and sat down. "Michael and Gavin woke me gleefully," Ray deadpanned and stared straight at the duo who smiled sheepishly at him. Ray laughed when Lindsay slapped Michael on the arm, reprimanding him. He looked back at Joel. "They did say something about food though," Ray smiled, his eyes crinkling shut.

Joel laughed at got up to get Ray his food. Barbara turned to look at Ray. "So?" She began, her eyes sparkling with mischief. "Why did you get up so late, Ray? Did someone wear you out last night?" She winked, and Ray blushed and looked down, pushing his glasses up his face.

"No, no, oh my god, Barb." Ray laughed nervously. "God," He ran a hand through his hair. "Can't a guy just sleep in without girls questioning his sex life?" He laughed again, and inwardly let out a sigh of relief when Barbara laughed and dropped the question. Even though, no, they really didn't do anything, it was still awkward to answer questions like that, and Ray didn't think it was ever going to be easy to answer those questions.

"But, X-Ray!" Gavin yelled. "You'd totally tell me and Mi-cool if you and Joel ever did anything, right?" 

Ray coughed and looked at Michael who mouthed 'sorry, I'll tell him later'. He turned back to Gavin. "Uh, totally, Vav, totally." 

Gavin opened his mouth to say God knows what else, when Joel came back and plopped down next to Ray. "Hey, hey, no more harassing my boyfriend, Mr. Free," He said mock sternly. 

Gavin rolled his eyes. "Yes, Sir," He stuck his tongue out when Joel wasn't looking at him, causing them to snicker. 

Joel set a plate down in front of Ray, who smiled when he saw pancakes. "Thanks, J-Roll, you're the best," Ray smiled obnoxiously at the nickname. 

"Oh God, not that nickname," Ray laughed when Joel put his head in his hands and Gavin proceeded to tell the story of how Joel got that nickname. 

Breakfast, well, lunch for Ray, went smoothly with stories and laughs and Barbara's God awful puns (that Ray secretly thought funny, but Joel didn't need to know), and Ray completely forgot about the odd text he had received earlier. 

"Hey Joel?" Joel turned to see Geoff walking toward them with Griffon. Ray watched Joel. 

"What's up, Ramsey?" Joel saw Ray watching him and put a hand on his leg in an attempt to calm him. 

"Griffon said that there's a snake in our cabin room, and she can't grab it, and you know me and snakes," Geoff cringed right on sue. "You need to come get the snake," Michael snickered and received a glare from Geoff which promptly shut him up.

"How come I have to do it?" Joel very much sounded like a put out child. 

"Because, asshole, you had a snake as a pet because you and your brother are weirdos. Now come on." 

Joel sighed dramatically and stood up, kissing Ray on the head. "I'll be right back, Geoff's a wuss who can't catch a little snake." Ray laughed and Geoff yelled some curse word at him before Joel finally followed him to the room. 

"I have to pee, Lindsay come with me?" Lindsay nodded and stood up with Barbara. 

"Why do girls always go to the bathroom together?" Michael asked.

"I dunno Michael, maybe you should ask Lindsay?" Ray replied and laughed at the glare he got from the red head. "Hey, so while no one else is here, I got to tell you guys something," Ray hushed his voice and Michael and Gavin looked at him worriedly. "I got a really weird text last night from Jackson," Ray pulled out his phone and showed his two friends the text. 

"Can you like call the number or something to see if he answers?" Gavin asked while looking to Michael. 

Ray shook his head. "It's from a blocked number. And even if I could, I don't know if I even want too. Who sends a message like this?" His friends both shrugged. 

"A psycho, probably," Gavin answered with a very serious look on his face. 

"Are you gonna tell Joel?" Michael asked, looking over Ray's shoulder every so often to see if Joel was coming back. 

"No, are you crazy?! He would probably like break up with me or do something weird like try to contact Jackson again," 

"That's a good point. Joel can be kinda unpredictable sometimes...especially when he's stressed. Did you know he actually used to teach at the school?" Gavin asked with wide eyes. 

"Yeah, he did. I never had him as a teacher, but I heard that he had like a panic attack once," Michael nodded his head in agreement with Gavin. 

"What?" Ray's eyes went wide. "What happened?" 

"Well no one really knows, but I heard that-," Michael looked over Ray's shoulder. "-that Gavin shit his pants once!" 

Gavin went red. "Mi-Cool! I did not! Geoff was lying when he told that story!" Michael burst into laughter. Ray's forehead furrowed in confusion until a hand dropped onto his shoulder. 

"What's Gavin done this time?" Joel asked and Ray could've sworn his heart stopped for a second. 

"Apparently, he shit his pants," Ray replied, hoping that Joel didn't notice that his voice was a little shaky. "Did you get the snake?" 

Joel sat down and pulled Ray to his side. "Yeah. I tired to show Geoff but he screamed like a girl and left," Joel shrugged. Ray laughed and leaned his head against Joel's shoulder, enjoying the moment; even though Gavin and Michael were still yelling at each other, Ray didn't really want it any other way. 

He closed his eyes and thought about his mom. He hoped that she was proud of him of making it into the school and making friends. He hoped nothing bad was happening to her or to his little sister. They were his life and he never wanted to let them down. He opened his eyes and looked at Michael and Gavin, and Lindsay and Barbara who had sat back down, and finally up at Joel. 

Joel looked down at him and gave him a small smile that made Ray's heart explode into fuzziness. 

When Ray would come home crying because he once again got bullies, his mom always told him, "Honey, don't you weep...don't you weep. There is nothing as lucky, as easy, or free." At the time, Ray never understood it, he never knew what his mom was referring to as lucky, easy, or free. But he thinks he understands now, and as he looks at his friends, and at his boyfriend, he understands that his mom was talking about life. 

So what if Ray had some weird stalker, psychopath ex trying to maybe, possibly kill him. Right now, he was happy. 

Oh how he hopes he stays that way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The quote from Ray's mom is from Bright Eyes's song "Easy//Lucky//Free", which is also the name of the chapter


	12. Jackson (The Latter) And Some Secrets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Let's meet Jackson! And make flower crowns! Ray's secret is out too, and Joel doesn't seem to be very functional after learning it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's a day late! My kitchen is getting redone so I'm cooped up in my room while strange men come here and bang around downstairs. My electricity keeps getting cut because of the rewriring, so I lost the work, twice, before this. The next chapter should be out at it's usual time. Enjoy! :)

The next day Ray woke up before Joel did. He looked over at Joel and smiled to himself. Ray wasn't sure how he managed to get Joel to like him, but, God, he was the luckiest person alive, wasn't he?

Ray spent the next few minutes just looking at Joel's sleeping face. He shook his head when he realized he was essentially just staring at someone unconscious.

He slowly got out of the bed, careful not to wake Joel, and walked around to his duffle bag. He heard Joel groan and froze, turning back to see if he was awake. When he saw that Joel wasn't, he turned back and rifled through his bag.

Ray yelped as arms wrapped around his waist.

"Goddammit, Joel!" Ray shouted as Joel carried him back to the bed.

"Ugh, Ray, let's not leave the bed today," Joel turned over so he was on top of the Puerto Rican.

"Joel!" Ray tried to squirm his way out from under Joel, to no avail. "Michael and Gavin will come knocking-Joel, no!" Ray squealed when Joel leaned down and started kissing Ray's neck.

"Let's not worry about Gavin and Michael. The door's locked, anyway." Ray groaned when Joel bit at the juncture where his neck and shoulder met.

"Oh God, Joel," Ray whimpered. He threaded his fingers through Joel's messy hair and tugged on it, bringing Joel's mouth to his. They both groaned as their tongues tangled with each other's.

Ray tiled his head and groaned in annoyance when there was, in fact, a knock at the door.

"Ray! You gotta get up!" Joel growled lowly in his throat when Gavin's voice traveled through the door.

"I can't-ah-I'm a little busy right now!" Ray's voice was strained and he hoped to God Gavin couldn't tell.

"Ray?" Oh Goddammit, now Michael was there too. The doorknob rattled. "How come the door's locked, are you okay?"

"I'm fine!" Ray called. "I'l be out in a minute!" He sighed. "I fucking told you, Joel!" He hissed and Joel laughed, hiding his face in the crook of Ray's neck.

Ray sighed again and pushed Joel off of him. Joel rolled over onto his back and landed on the bed. Ray grumbled the whole time while getting dressed, much to Joel's amusement. He leaned down to kiss Joel goodbye and then left the room, closing the door behind him.

\-----

Outside Michael and Gavin were waiting outside, talking to each other about something or other.

"What was so important, guys?" Ray shrugged and stuck his hands inside his hoodie, which was Joel's; something that Michael didn't miss.

"Isn't that Joel's hoodie? Michael smirked and Ray blushed slightly.

"Oh, shut the fuck up, Michael," Ray grumbled. "Also," He added. "You both are super big cock-blocks." Both Michael and Gavin laughed.

"You definitely got action before in a car, I think." Gavin teased, causing Ray's face to flush further.

"I hate both of you," Ray muttered walking ahead.

"Hey, X-Ray!" Gavin jogged to catch up with Ray. "We're just teasing you." Ray narrowed his eyes at the Brit but smiled nonetheless.

"Yeah, I know, guys," Ray sighed. "But seriously, what was so important that you guys couldn't wait like an hour?"

"Well," Michael walked on the other side of Ray. "So, we don't want you to freak out or anything, but Geoff came and found us," He gestured to himself and Gavin. "to find you and make sure you weren't with Joel,"

"What?" Ray furrowed his eyebrows. "Why?"

"Well, because," Michael scratched his head. "Gavin, do you want to tell Ray?"

"Uh," Gavin stuttered. "Because Geoff said that Jackson called him and was coming up to the cabin and Geoff tried to reason with the burke, but he wouldn't listen and we think he's on his way up here to maybe talk to you so we wanted to away from Joel so Jackson wouldn't be able to find you."

"Wait." Ray stopped short. "You mean to tell me, some psycho ex boyfriend of Joel's is possibly coming up here to fucking kill me or something and you want me away from Joel." Ray waved his arms. "What if he wants to just to Joel alone adn try to convince him to break up with me. Shouldn't I be with Joel?!"

"Whoa, whoa, Ray," Michael caught Ray around his waist when Ray tried to go back to Joel. "No, you need to stary away frm Joel right now. I know you don't want too," Gavin nodded in agreement. "but Geoff said so, and Geoff know's best. Most times.

"This thing? Between Jackson and Joel? Is exactly that. Between Jackson and Joel and we don't want anyone else getting hurt during it." Michael finished, still not letting go of Ray.

"Well fine," Ray huffed and squirmed out of Michael's hold. "What are we gonna do today then?"

Gavin looked at Ray excitedly. "There's a lake that's through the woods that we can go through, and Barbara and Lindsay said they'll come with us,"

"Yeah," Michael added. "I think they're down there already, so let's go. It's impolite to keep a woman waiting," Despite himself, Ray found himself smiling.

\-----

True to Michael's word, both Lindsay and Barbara were waiting down at the lake. Barbara in shorts and a pink t-shirt and Lindsay in jeans and a t-shirt that read, 'I look better in slo mo'.

"Hey, guys!" Gavin yelled and waved dramatically at them. They waved back and Ray laughed as Gavin tripped, hitting Michael in the process.

"Sorry we're late," Michael said as they got to the girls. "We had to explain to Ray why we had to get him."

"Oh," Barbara looked over to Ray. "We're really sorry and everything, but we hope you understand." Ray nodded and Barbara smiled, patting the spot next to her and Lindsay for Ray to sit.

Ray sat in between Lindsay and Barbara with Michael sitting next to Lindsay and Gavin sitting next to Michael. Lindsay was in the process of making a flower crown.

"It's pretty, gay, isn't it?" Michael smirked and Lindsay hit him upside his head.

"And you ad Gavin aren't?" That shut Michael up, causing Lindsay to smile triumphantly. "That's what I thought." She looked over to Ray." You wanna learn how to make a flower crown, loverboy?"

Ray laughed and nodded and spend the next hour and half with them trying to make a flower crown.

"No, Ray," Barbara laughed. "Like this," She showed him, for the hundredth time how to loop the flower's together, and Ray attempted again. "That's it!" Barbara patted Ray on the back. The only thing that made this better was that Gavin was just as bad, or worse, at making the flower crown's. Michael, surprisingly, was really good at it, and had already made one with multicolored flowers for Lindsay.

"Mi-Cool!" Gavin squeaked. Ray looked over to where Michael had taken Gavin's half crushed flower and added on a white daisy for him perfectly. "Oh!" When Gavin realized that Michael was actually helping him, he smiled. "Thanks, boi!" Gavin smiled and continued on his mangled flower crown.

"I can't do this!" Ray cried out.

"Here," Lindsay grabbed some roses. "Like this," She looped the flowers together into a rose crown and placed it on top of Ray's head. "Now, you're the Rose King," Lindsay laughed and Ray smiled.

"Thank's Linds." Ray grabbed some yellow flowers and tried again, his crown coming out a lot less mangled than it was before. Maybe the rose crown held some kind of magical powers.

Ray wasn't sure how long they stayed out near the lake, making crappy flower crowns, but soon Michael got a text from Geoff.

"Yo," Michael said, pocketing his phone. "Geoff says to go back to the cabin." He stood up, and helped Lindsay up.

"Did he say if Jackson was gone?" Ray stood up as well and wiped off his, Joel's, hoodie. Michael shook his head, and Ray nodded, swallowing slightly. He held onto the yellow flower crown he made for Joel.

Barbara stood next to Ray and grabbed his shoulder. "I'm sure everything is fine, Ray," Ray nodded and looked at her. She had a pink flower crown resting on her blonde hair.

"C'mon," Gavin said. "I'm hungry and I'm sure Griffon made some more food!" Michael and Gavin had made flower crowns for everyone else, both of them donning blue flower crowns.

The group walked back, laughing and joking, though Ray was nervous but he tried to hide it through sarcastic jokes. Soon enough they were back at the cabins and there were a group of people sitting at the picnic table.

Gavin went up to Geoff first and placed a red flower crown on his head. "What?" Geoff turned to Gavin. "Oh, thanks, buddy!" Geoff laughed and turned back to the table.

Gavin then went up to Griffon and handed her an orange flower crown. "It's orange," Gavin explained. "Because it's a badass color and it matches Geoff's!" Griffon smiled and put it on, hugging Gavin before turning back to the grill.

Michael, meanwhile, went up to Burnie and put a green flower crown on his head, ducking away before Burnie could smack him. He then went up to Miles and Kerry and handed them each a purple flower crown. They both laughed and put them on, thanking Michael before he left.

"Hey," Ray said to Jack, handing him his multicolored flower crown. Jack laughed warmly, and placed it on his head. "Where's Joel?" Ray asked, holding his yellow flower crown up.

"Oh," Jack rubbed his beard. "I think he's up front. Jackson came by," Jack sighed, suddenly sounding exhausted. "I think he's gone though now. It should be safe to go up." Ray nodded and left the group.

"You want us to go with you?" Michael and Gavin walked over to Ray.

"Please?" They both nodded and the three of them walked up to the parking lot.

Joel was standing there, looking weary, talking to, Ray presumed, Jackson. Jackson didn't look like what Ray had imagined. He was tall and thin, almost reaching Joel's height, with curly, floppy brown hair that bounced when he nodded. He wore sunglasses, and cargo shorts with a multi colored hoodie on. He reminded Ray of a hipster, and Ray admitted it, he was attractive too. And probably Joel's age, unlike him.

"Come on," Michael said to Ray and linked all their arms together, walking up to the talking pair.

"Hey, Joel," Ray said, quietly. Joel turned to look at Ray, surprised that he was there.

"Oh, hey Ray," Joel smiled and wrapped an arm around Ray, pulling him to Joel's side. Michael and Gavin smiled at the site and stayed in the background in case Ray needed them.

"Here," Ray smiled up at Joel and handed him the yellow flower crown. Joel smiled softly and let Ray put it on his head.

"Thanks, babe," Ray blushed at the pet name.

"Oh," Ray turned to look at Jackson. "So this is Ray huh?" Jackson spat out Ray's name like it was poison, causing Michael to frown slightly.

"Yeah," Ray answered before Joel could. "I'm Ray, you must be Jackson. Thanks for the late night texts, ya know," Ray said with a false smile.

"You texted Ray?" Joel asked, he narrowed his eyes.

"Whoa, whoa," Jackson held up his hands. "I only texted him because you didn't tell him about me, and I wanted him away from you." He explained it like it was obvious.

"I didn't tell him because I thought this was through!" Joel cried and ran a hand down his face. "Why are you here, Jackson? You stayed here for two hours, not explaining anything, and acting as if we never broke up."

"I'm here, Joely, because I wanted to show you that you're wasting your time with this, this kid," Jackson spat out. "And even though we cheated on each other, I know that you're still in love with me!" Joel spluttered.

"And besides!" Jackson continued. "What's he got that I don't! The fact that he's a kid doesn't make anything better, does it?! He's not even cute, Joel! What happened to you?" He scoffed. "I thought you at least had some standards."

"Hey, excuse me," Michael cut in and walked forward even though Gavin tried to stop him. "This 'kid', is a lot better than you! He's great at video games and managed to get a date with Joel even though he's had you harassing him! Joel needs some standards? How about you need some standards? What kind of person keeps stalking their ex and threatens their new boyfriend? Huh? Not a fucking sane person, that's for fucking sure!" Michael was full on yelling now. "You wanna talk about fucking standards and all that shit, yet here you are, fucking years later, trying to compare yourself to Ray to make yourself feel better? To try and make yourself believe that Ray is some horrible person because he got Joel to date again?! Why don't you got fuck off!"

Ray was holding back a smile, and Jackson looked at Michael in disbelief.

"Fine, Joely, if you don't want me then, I'll leave. I know when I'm defeated. But I'll show you that this Ray kid isn't as truthful a you think he is. Do you know how he actually got into Achievement Hunter? Not because he's rich, because he got a scholarship," Ray's face paled slightly. "Yeah, didn't tell him, Ray? That you're actually dirt poor and that you couldn't afford to get decent clothes, let alone into this school? So yes, Michael," He turned to the redhead. "I may be a 'stalker' or whatever, but at least I'm not some poor, lonely kid with self confidence issues that cuts himself."

Ray had tears in his eyes and he stepped backwards, stumbling into Gavin who hugged him, glaring at Jackson. "You're the worst kind of human being." The Brit growled out through gritted teeth.

"I think you should go now." Michael looked back to see Geoff, Griffon, and Jack standing there, arms folded, glaring at Jackson.

Jackson scoffed and turned with one more glare to Ray and got in his car and drove away angrily.

"Joel?" Gavin asked quietly, still holding Ray who was hiding his face in the blonde's chest.

Joel ignored Gavin and pushed past them back to the cabin. Jack and Geoff followed him and Griffon came up to Gavin, Michael, and Ray.

"Hey, Ray of Sunshine," Griffon said quietly. "Are you okay?" Ray didn't answer, he just wanted to disappear.

"People weren't supposed to know," Ray whispered, though he wasn't sure if he was talking about the poorness or the self harm.

"I know," Griffon pulled Ray from Gavin. "But, we all love you here and we all understand." She said, lovingly.

"Yeah, X-Ray," Gavin said. "No one cares if you're poor, we're not some stuck up bitches like in the movies, you know." Gavin joked lightly. "You're still my little X-Ray,"

"Gavin's right. Barbara isn't rich either, you know. She got in with a scholarship like you did." Michael's eyes watered. "Goddamn, Ray," He whispered. "Don't you fucking cry, because then I'll start crying." Ray laughed weakly.

"How come Joel left? He didn't even say anything to me," Ray whimpered and looked at Griffon.

Griffon sighed. Ray looked like a kicked puppy. "I don't know, buddy. Sometimes, we're bombarded with information and we need a little while to soak it all up. I'm sure he'll be back, though. Just give him some time, yeah?" Ray nodded. "Now let's get back to the fire, huh? I made food." She smiled.

They walked back to the picnic table, Ray sitting down between Michael and Gavin, leaning his head against Michael's shoulder. Goddammit, he thought. Joel wasn't supposed to find out about this, this way. Ray rubbed at his eyes. It was gonna be a long night, he thought.


	13. Goddammit, Joel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Joel really is a fucking idiot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Saturday! Have a chapter. I apologize in advance.

Ray wasn't sure if he was supposed to go and talk to Joel, or if he was supposed to wait and let Joel come talk to him. The others could still tell Ray was shook, and tried their best to get hi mind off of it. Michael told stories of how Gavin shit his pants on more than one occasion, and Griffon was telling her Ray about her wood sculpture.

Ray tried to listen and contribute to the conversation but his mind kept going back to Joel just pushing past him. Geoff still hadn't come back either, and Ray hoped Geoff was maybe talking some sense into Joel.

"Here, Ray," Griffon stood and rifled in her bag. She turned back around holding a miniature wooden sculpture of a fox. She handed it to Ray. "You can have this."

Ray blinked and looked down at the small fox in his hand. It wasn't huge or too tiny it was almost the exact same size as his palm, and it was painted a burnt orange with a white belly with little black dots for eyes and a nose.

"Are you sure?" Ray looked up at Griffon who was still standing.

Griffon nodded. "Oh, yeah, totally. It was a little side project, and it looks like you could use a furry friend." Griffon ruffled Ray's hair and sat back down next to Ray.

Ray looked down at the fox. "I'm gonna name you Cinnamon," Ray cooed at the fox and smiled slightly. He sat Cinnamon down on the table.

Ray sighed, his smile fading. "Should I go talk to Joel?"

"Only if you think you should," Griffon held her head in her hand and looked at Ray.

"Oh, Griffon, you and you're girl advice," Michael scoffed. He turned to face Ray from across the table. "You should definitely talk to him. See what the fuck his problem is. And if everything goes bad, you can sleep in my room and Geoff'll sleep with Joel and Lindsay can share with Grif. Uh, of that's alright with you two."

"It's cool with me." Lindsay said, smiling at Ray.

Griffon nodded. "It's alright by me, too. Geoff has no say." Griffon laughed and Ray cracked a smile.

Ray stoodd and grabbed Cinnamon and put him in his pocket. "I'm gonna go talk to him and try to explain." The group nodded and whished him luck.

Ray sighed for seemed like the millionth time that day and stuck his hands in his pockets. He realized, with a bitter laugh that he's still wearing Joel's hoodie. He figures that if Joel didn't wanna see him, he could at least return Joel's hoodie. God, he felt pathetic.

When he got to the door he could briefly hear Geoff and Joel talking. He raised his hand to knock and them stopped, hesitating. Should he knock or wait until Geoff came out. He swallowed thickly, clenched his raised fist, and knocked without over thinking it. Again.

The voices stopped and Ray thought about bailing, but the door opened and he froze like a dear in headlights.

"Oh, hey, Ray." It was Geoff and Ray let out a breath. "I was just leaving." Geoff smiled stiffly and patted Ray's shoulder, moving passed the young Puerto Rican.

It left Ray standing in the doorway, facing Joel who was sitting on the bed.

Ray waved awkwardly, the hoodie sleeve drooping past his hand. "Hey,"

"Uh, hey, Ray," Ray swallowed at the lack of a pet name. "Can we...talk?"

Ray nodded and walked forward, despite his heart dropping. Ray walked over and sat down next to Joel on the bed.

"So, uh," Joel wasn't too good at this kinda thing. "This..this-I'm not very good a the whole 'words' thing." He groaned. "I don't really know what to say. I, I wanna say sorry because I didn't mean for Jackson to come down here, and, and I should've told you about Jackson." Joel ran a hand through his hair. "So, I'm sorry."

Ray nodded. "I mean, it's okay because we haven't really been dating for that long, but it kind of feels like I've known you for a long time, and I hope that my secret about being poor doesn't ya know, break us up." Ray finished lamely.

"Yeah, about that. I have no problem with you being poor or anything, and it wouldn't be fair if I got mad at you for not being honest. But I'm kinda confused about what I'm feeling," Ray could feel his heart dropping further. "And I don't want you to think that I hate you because you cut or because you're poor, but I need to figure some things out on my own and figure out if I wanna date someone who's emotionally unstable."

Well, forget about sad, Ray was fucking furious. How dare Joel tell him he was "emotionally unstable".

"Well, I mean, even if you fucking hated me it wouldn't even make a difference in this scenario now would it?" Ray felt a little bad when he saw Joel flinch, but he wasn't even close to being done. "You, you have the decency to call me 'emotionally unstable' but you don't even know if I am or not! You just think that because I cut myself. I bet you don't even know what it feels like." Ray was tired of having this conversation with people who didn't understand his self harming problem, and he had tears of frustration in his eyes.

"It would be okay if you wanted to break up with me because I kept secrets from you, or even because I'm dirt poor. But, God Joel, it hurts worse that you want to break up with me because I have a cutting problem. You make me fucking sick." Ray ripped the hoodie off of him. "And have your fucking hoodie back you prick." Ray grabbed his duffle bag and left the room, leaving Joel shocked and sitting on the bed.

Sometimes Ray didn't think what he was going to say through, and now was the perfect example. The weight of what he said crashed down around him and his shoulders slumped as his heart cracked. Goddammit. Was it supposed to hurt this much?

He didn't really want to go back out and have everyone see him broken and pathetic so he took out his phone and texted Michael.

I need to stay in your room. Can you come and show me where it is?

It took less than a minute for his phone to buzz.

Yeah...Can I bring Gav along?

Yeah

Ray slid his phone back in his pocket and wiped at his eyes under his glasses. How was he supposed to stay here for the next four days when Joel was goin to be in the same vincinity?

He didn't get long to dwell on this thought, though, when he saw Michael rounding the corner with Gavin in tow. They both gave him sympathetic looks, but Ray just shook his head sadly.

"I just wanna go the room, please," Ray whispered, and cursed himself when his voice wavered. Michael nodded and took him to his room, texting Lindsay that she would need to stay with Griffon.

\-----

Ray didn't leave the room for the rest of the day, and Michael and Gavin took turns keepint him company. Lindsay even went in and brought him some food, trying to give him advice on how to cope. Ray appreciated it, but it fell on deaf ears.

Geoff's face stayed eerily stoic when Griffon told him he would need to stay with Joel.

"Yeah," Geoff sighed. "I figured. I'm gonna slap Joel, I swear to God." Griffon just sighed and gave Geoff a kiss before Geoff walked over to Joel's room.

"I hope your fucking proud of yourself," Geoff said as he entered the room.

"What?" Joel looked up from his phone, looking at Geoff. "Where's Ray?" Joel'e eyebrows furrowed.

"Where do you fucking think? He's room with Michael," Geoff dropped his bag on the opposite bed. "He's heartbroken, and I'm pretty sure you're gonna get a mouthful from Michael."

"I didn't mean to hurt him," Joel tried lamely.

"Yeah, well maybe breaking up with him because he has some emotional trouble wasn't the best way to do that you fucking idiot." Geoff turned to face him with a glare on his face. "I thought you liked him a lot. And what did you do? You ran away when things got too much. It's what you always do. You did it with Jackson and now you're doing it with Ray."

God, Joel really was an idiot, wasn't he?


	14. Michael's Mouthful

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ray and Lindsay have a, uh, conversation, as do Joel and Michael.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Where have I been for the past two weeks? Well I was in NYC, and then I got ridiculously sick. Like throwing up ever hour and sleeping. Sorry for the late update. I'll try to make another update this week. Hope you enjoy! :D

****"What do you mean you're 'leaving'?" Geoff was pulling a shirt on and fixed a glare on Joel.

"Exactly that, Geoff," Joel huffed. "I didn't think I needed to explain it in more detail," He rolled his eyes.

"You know," Geoff pointed out. "You're kind of a piece of shit." He sighed. "You always complain about shit, and about how no one will ever love you, but when someone comes along and likes you, even after you walked away from them, you get fucking scared and run away." Joel knew Geoff had a point but didn't say anything.

"You made the fucking kid cum in his pants before you even..." Geoff trailed off exasperated. "Maybe you should, I dunno, man the fuck up and talk to him before you just decide to fucking walk away." Joel flinched when he heard the door slam.

"Even if I tried," Joel whispered to the empty room. "He wouldn't even wanna talk to me." Joel slumped and collapsed onto his bed.

\-----

Griffon looked up when Geoff came storming over, muttering something under his breath.

"Whoa there," Griffon said, smiling.

"Hey, Grif," Geoff smiled back and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Joel's a fucking idiot."

"Yeah, we all know that. What did he say?" She led Geoff over to a table and sat him down in front of coffee and a plate of eggs.

"He said he's leaving." The older man rubbed his tattooed hands over his face, tiredly.

"Do you think he's actually gonna leave?" Griffon sat next to him and leaned against her hand.

"I don't even know, Grif. I really don't know anymore." Griffon has never seen her boyfriend look this distraught over anything before, and she worried her bottom lip between her teeth.

"Geoff....Ray...He hasn't even come out of Michael's room yet."

"Where is Michael?" Geoff looked around.

"I think he's still inside trying to get Ray to get out of bed."

"Jesus Christ."

\-----

Michael was currently standing in his room, staring at the lump that was laying in bed. He didn't want to yell at Ray, but he also didn't want to just let his friend stay in bed all day.

"Come on, Ray," Michael began for the hundredth time. "Just come outside for, like, a minute. Just to get something to eat. Please?"

The lump didn't move. "No." Michael sighed, but nodded, even though Ray couldn't see.

"Okay, okay. I'll be back later, okay? And don't be surprised if Gavin comes in to bug you." He turned and left the room, sighing again when he got outside.

Ray waited another five minutes before he poked his head out from underneath the covers to make sure that Michael was really gone. When he saw that the red head was gone he shifted around a bit before sighing sadly. He took his glasses off and tossed them on the nightstand next to him. He regretted not bringing a razor or something, and he knew that he wouldn't be able to sneak one from anyone else without raising suspicions.

With another sigh, he laid back down and brought the covers over his head again. He stared into the dark blanket over him and breathed deeply. He brought a hand up and dragged it over his face in exhaustion. How was he still tired? He slept for at least eighteen hours straight. Maybe it was all that crying that made him tired. Ray couldn't remember the last time he cried so much before over a guy he hadn't even dated for over a week.

He felt fucking pathetic.

The door opened and Ray groaned, sitting up. "I told you I don't want to go oh-Oh, hi, Lindsay." Ray waved a hand awkwardly. Lindsay just smiled slightly, walking over and sitting on the bed next to the Puerto Rican.

"Did Michael send you?" Ray shifted, sitting up more, and crossed his arms.

"Nope," Lindsay popped the 'p'. "I came all by myself."

The two sat in comfortable silence for several minutes until Ray turned to look over at Lindsay. "Thanks." He muttered out before he could stop himself.

"For what?" Lindsay looked at the Puerto Rican confused.

"For ya know, not prying. Michael and Gavin have been prying since yesterday, but you haven't asked once about Joel."

The red head laughed. "You know, Ray, I have had my fair share of being dumped, so I know how annoying it is when people pry." She bumped his shoulder with her's.

"Guys broke up with a pretty face like yours?" Ray scoffed. "Impossible."

"Oh shut up you big dork," Lindsay laughed. She slid off of the bed and wiped off her shorts. "Me, Barbara, Miles and Kerry are gonna hang out down by the lake if you wanna come hang with us," She held out a hand for Ray to take.

"Maybe," Ray took the offered hand that lugged him out of the cocoon of sheets. "Where's Michael and Gavin?" He picked up his glasses and situated them on his face.

"Gavin's in Griffon's room playing Minecraft, I'm not sure where Michael is. He might be with Gav though," She gave Ray a knowing smile. "Go and join Gavin, idiot."

Ray laughed and held his hands up. "Okay, okay, you got me. I'll go find Gavin. Have fun by the lake with everyone," Ray waved a hand as they parted ways from the room. Ray sighed as he turned to leave, his hands stuck in his pockets. He wondered where Michael, secretly hoping he might be yelling at Joel.

\-----

Joel almost yelled out when he saw Ray leaving his room, but stopped when he saw Lindsay come out after him. He closed his mouth when he saw them laughing, and was overcome with a surge of jealousy. He knew it was stupid that he was feeling jealous of Lindsay. For one, Ray wasn't even straight, and two, Lindsay was very much in love with Michael. He sighed and turned to leave, walking back to his room. He was going to leave later tonight, it would be wrong to try and say bye to Ray.

When he got to his room, he was a little wary because he could hear someone shuffling around inside. He assumed it was Geoff or something and opened the door. He didn't expect to see Michael in his room, rifling around.

"Uh, Michael?" Joel hesitantly called out and shut the door quietly.

"Oh, hi," Michael stood up and brushed his jeans off. "I wasn't actually waiting around for you, you know. I think Ray left his DS in here, or some kind of game. But you're here and I can work with that too." Joel looked at him, confused.

The older man walked over to his bed and sat down, mentally sighing when he realized that this was the "mouthful" Geoff was talking about earlier.

"You're how old, Joel?"

"Uh, 23...?" Joel wasn't sure where this was going. Normally when he got yelled at from ex's friends or family, it was all yelling, not calm questioning. And even now, it's Michael Jones. He wasn't known for calmly talking.

"Okay, so you're 23 years old. You're basically an adult." Michael nodded to himself. "Ray's like...16....I'm only 17. You know I'm dating Lindsay, right?" Joel nodded. "Did you know that Lindsay suffers from severe social anxiety?" Joel's eyes widened and he shook his head. "Yeah," Michael nodded and laughed a little bitterly. "Not many people do. She's pretty talkative. My point is that she's only 17 too and she does get paranoid, though maybe not as much as you do, but me and her have worked it out. You wanna know how?" Michael didn't wait for an answer. "Because neither of us run away when we have a problem!" Ah, there's the yelling.

"We always tell each other what's wrong and if we're having doubts we talk it out." Michael sighed, exasperated. He walked over towards the door and opened it. "You're twenty fucking three. Maybe you should act like it." Joel had a sense of deja vu as Michael slammed the door behind him.

Joel sighed and held his head in his hands. He knew he fucked up, he'll admit that to anyone who'll listen. He didn't know what to say that could make it any better though. 


	15. The End

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The end...for now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well I said I was going to try and update again this week, and here it is! It's also the end of this story! I was thinking of writing a sequel to this about them back at the school trying to keep their relationship a secret. Let me know if you want that or not!
> 
> Also, if you've never seen a duct tape rose, link: http://www.pinterest.com/pin/225109681345358345/

Three days left of the vacation and everyone was on edge. Kerry and Miles could feel palpable tension whenever Joel and Ray were near each other, and the girls didn't want to say anything in fear of saying the wrong thing. The only person that seemed oblivious to all the tension was Gavin, whom happily supplied everyone with Gavin humor.

Michael was the most worried about Ray, well apart from Joel but he didn't count in Michael's opinion, and he tried to keep Ray and Joel apart so he wouldn't feel sadder than he already did. Unknown to the friend, Ray was going out of his way to see Joel when he could. He knew it was unhealthy, but he couldn't help it.

With a sigh, Ray stood up from the table, ignoring Gavin's yell for him to stay, and made his way back to the room. He wondered if Michael got his DS for him and pulled his phone out to text him.

  
**Did u ever get my DS from Joel's room?**

  
He got a response in less than five minutes.

  
_Uh, no. He came I could find it. I'll go back later and get it for you_

  
Ray sighed.

  
**Don't bother. I'll go get it myself**

  
Ray left the room, pocketing his phone and made his way to Joel's room. He felt his pocket vibrate and pulled out his phone. It was another text from Michael.

  
_No, seriously. I'll go get it in like an hour, promise._

  
Ray knew Michael didn't want him to see Joel, and he thought it was a little weird. It wasn't like Michael was his mom or anything. Though, he did appreciate that his friend was looking out for him, he just started to feel suffocated.

He ignored the text from Michael and held onto his phone. He went up to the door and knocked three times. He was pulling his arm back down when the door swung open. It revealed a disheveled Joel in sweat pants. He rubbed a hand over his face and faced Ray.

"Uh, hey," Joel croaked out, clearing his throat.

"Hey, were you sleeping?" Ray asked.

"Yeah, did you need Geoff or something? I think he's eating with the others," Joel ran a hand through his unruly hair and stepped aside to let Ray walk in.

"Oh, no. I came because I needed my DS and Michael apparently didn't get it because you walked in," Ray waved a hand dismissively trying to make the situation less awkward, though he knew he was failing.

"Yeah, gave me a mouthful too," Joel muttered and they both chuckled and locked eyes. Ray coughed nervously and looked away and the moment was broken.

"But, I have it for you. It's, hang on," Joel walked over to his nightstand and opened the drawer. He turned around with Ray's red DS in his hand.

"Here you go," He held it out for Ray to take. The latter looked from Joel's hand to his face and back again. He opened his mouth like he was going to say something, but then decided against it and closed it. Ray grabbed his DS with a thanks and was on his way to heading out when the call of his name made him turn back.

It was now or never, Joel thought. What was he supposed to say though? He wasn't good with emotions, and even worse with words, but he would try for Ray. He would do a lot of things for Ray.

"Uh, can...can we talk?" Joel winced at how lame that sounded.

"I mean, yeah, sure," Ray shut the door and walked over to the bed, sitting down, waiting for Joel to start talking. He wasn't sure was he was expecting the older man to say. Maybe an apology or an ask to get back together, he wasn't sure.

"Okay, cards on the table? I'm really bad with words. But I, uh, have something for you," Joel stuttered out. He pulled something else out of his nightstand drawer. "I, I know it isn't actually, like, a real rose, but Geoff said you liked roses and I'll kill him if he's wrong, but, uh, here," He held out what looked like a rose at first, but with closer inspection, Ray realized it was made out of duct tape.

Ray hesitantly reached out and took the duct tape rose from Joel and looked at it. He's never gotten a rose, real or fake, before. He stared at it and felt his insides mush around in warmth and he couldn't help but let a little smile creep onto his face.

Ray looked up at Joel who was looking at him with a small smile. Ray cleared his throat a little.

"I've...I've never gotten a rose before, much less a duct tape rose," Ray laughed a little, looking down. "I'm not sure what else you want me to say, to be honest,"

"Oh, no, no, I don't expect you to say anything," Joel quickly said. "I just, I don't know," Joel sighed. "I'm sorry. I'm kind of an asshole and people haven't been forgetting to remind me. Geoff told me that I should stop running away from things when I get scared, and Michael told me to act like my age." Joel laughed a little.

"I don't think that I'll ever be able to act my age, but I've tried to stop running away. I, I was gonna leave two days ago because I didn't think I'd be able to handle seeing you every day. I know I broke up with you, well I more like, just kinda was a jerk off to you, but I'm not good with this. Obviously. You saw what happened with Jackson and I'm terrified it's going to happen with you. I know it isn't really an excuse, but I'm sorry. And, and if you want I can prove it to you when we get back to the school." Joel finished with a huff and looked at Ray. His heart was pounding and he thought he could hear it in his ears. Jesus Christ, he didn't think he has ever been this nervous before.

"Uh, well," Ray was a little more than speechless. What was he supposed to say to that? The Michael in his head was telling him the obvious answer should be no, but another little voice whispered that he should say yes. He's neer been this conflicted over something, never thought he'd ever be in this position, with a guy asking for another chance. To be honest, Ray never thought he'd ever land a guy.

Ignoring the Michael yelling in his head, he stood up and walked over to Joel, wrapping his arms around his waist and hugging him. Joel, slightly shocked, slowly wrapped his arms around Ray, hugging him back.

"Is that a yes?" Joel asked after a moment.

He could feel Ray nod against his chest. "Yes, you big idiot." Joel smiled and lent his head down onto Ray's.

Ray pulled back and looked at Joel with a deadly serious look on his face. "We cannot tell anyone though,"

Joel furrowed his eyebrow. "What? Why not?"

"Because Michael has been up my ass about you and making sure I never see you and I'm pretty sure if I asked he would kill you. So, until I somehow convince Michael that you're not as much as an asshole as he thinks you are, we," He motioned between the two of them with his hands. "-cannot be seen together."

"How are you going to convince Michael?" Joel raised an eyebrow.

"I...I don't know right now. Just, just trust me though, okay?" Ray looked up at Joel with doe eyes behind his glasses.

"Always."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for sticking with me through this story and for making me believe in writing again! I love you guys. Seriously. All your comments have been more than amazing and I can't believe this story got over 2000 hits and 174 kudos, so again, thank you to everyone who's read, commented, bookmarked, subscribed, and/or kudosed .

**Author's Note:**

> Constructive criticism would be helpful and very much welcome. Thanks for reading and if you liked it and don't mind being patient, this might be updated in the next week or two.


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